Auckland - Rotorua - day 54

This morning we were picked up by the Magicbus and taken to Mount Eden, a volcano that has some great views over the city. From up there we could see both the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea and it made us realize how narrow New Zealand is! In the area around Auckland there are around 14 visible volcanoes (one of them is called One Tree Hill!). The population of Auckland is around 1,5 million people, which is more than the entire population of the South Island (even though it is nearly twice as big!); the entire population of New Zealand is only 4 million! From Auckland we drove to Waitomo Caves, stopping at a few places on the way. At Waitomo Caves we went "black water rafting". It was awesome! We basically got some very thick wetsuits and boots and a floating tire and a helmet with a little light on it. We walked through a field up a hill and then went down into a cave. Apart from our little lights, it was COMPLETELY dark in there! Pretty scary at first... but lots of fun! We went deeper into the caves and all turned off our lights to see the glow worms on the ceiling of the cave. They are amazing to see, it looked like a very very starry sky and there was no other light at all, so we could see them really well! Then we walked through the caves and got into the water, which was really really cold! Only 8 degrees! We floated around on the "tires" and enjoyed the glow worms above us. We jumped off a little waterfall and went down a slide, both were fun. After having spent more than an hour under ground, we came back out and headed to the hot showers! We took the Magicbus to Rotorua, a town that is known for its hot pools and mud pools and horrible smell! The area is volcanically active and the vapors coming up from the earth are unbearable! It really smells like rotten egg! We walked around town for a bit, but not for too long cause we both got dizzy and started shaking like crazy (maybe due to the smell and the vapors)... In the evening we watched The Lord Of The Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring.

Weather: cold and gray