Rotorua, North Island (NZ)

Having spent 2 weeks in UK helping to organise Mum's funeral, and feeling pretty miserable about having lost her so soon after Dad, we decided to return to New Zealand to continue with our world trip, as Mum would have wanted. She was going to come out to see us in France in the spring, but sadly neither she nor my Dad managed to make it. After 64 years of being married, I hope they are reunited and watching our adventures from afar.

23 January 2010

Arrived in Rotorua just in time to catch Richard's latest performance,
this time with a Maori score.......

The Maoris were very welcoming, as were the
hot springs and geysers which spouted forth.
















This native guide was called Paul O'Garvey and was fiercely proud of his Polynesian/Ulster parentage!












The other geysers spurted on cue and we all splutterd from the sulpurous vapours.












This mud cauldron was actually bubbling furiously, but Irene failed to capture its palpitating pulses.