Rotorua/Taupo

Happy Easter!
Welcome back. Rotorua was great. My hostel, Hot Rocks, was a nice comfy 3 story hostel w/ 3 thermal pools. Only 1 was really good (the outdoors one) but they were nice to sit in at the end of the day. The first day there I went black water rafting in Waitomo, a small village 2 hrs west of Rotorua. It was definitely the most unique thing I've done so far. Black water rafting consists of floating down a river that flows through underground caves. You can repel into that cave, or enter at another site and just climb in. I was short on time, so I did the shorter version where you climb in. So I enter wearing a wet suit (river's colder than the Irish Sea), a helmet with a light on it, boots, and an inflatable donut-like raft. We climb in and turn on our lamps and walk thorugh the caves to where the water is deeper and we can actually float. We (there are roughly 12 of us) float down the river and look up at the ceiling ov the cave which varied in height from very tall to just a foot or so above our heads. There were stalagtites on the ceiling we avoided touching and for one part we formed an "eel" which is where you put your legs up on the raft in front of you and everyone floats down single file. While in eel formation, we turned off our lamps and the guides led us through while we looked up at the ceiling of the cave, which was illuminated by glow worms, which look like tiny, bright sequins on the cave roof. Glow worms look cooler than they are; they are actually maggots that have feces that glow in the dark to attract flies, which get caught in a web-like strings that they also produce. So, the whole trip lasted about 2 hours and was very good.
While in Rotorua, I also visited some geysers, went to a thermal spa-Greg, think Pucon, only my bag didn't get stolen- and did a bungy jump from 45 metres. It was pretty good. They have a photographer on the ground taking photos of you, which they try and sell you for $25. I didn't buy them, but there was one right when I jumped off and my facial expression was that of seeing a ghost.
I hitched a ride to Taupo, a city 1 hr south of Rotorua that offers plenty of extreme sports as well. Skydiving's very popular here since it's the cheapest place to do it in NZ. I had a place booked today, but weather didn't cooperate, so it was a slow day. Yesterday was great, though. I went on a fairly rigorous 17K walk through the Tongariro crossing, rated as the top day walk in NZ. It's not too tough a walk, although there are too tough climbs. You pass very close to Tongariro, the volcano used as Mordor in the Lord of the Rings movies, and see some emerald green lakes and other great scenery as well. I did most of the walk with a bloke from London, whose been travelling abroad for about 8 months now, and sees no end in sight. Guy has plans to go everywhere, and he's about as happy-go-lucky as you can be. Sleeps in his car and kind of smelled, but good fun nonetheless. The town of Taupo would normally be good for some craic, but it's Easter weekend and shops and Holy Cow bars have been closed or closed early. My roommates right now are 3 Brits, a Chinese, and a Brasilian, Marcel who snores instantly when he sleeps.
Tomorrow morning I'm off to "Windy Welly", where I'll spend 2 days then bid adios to the North Island.

Cheers,
James