Rotorua

Howdy peeps. Sadly everything is still going swimmingly, although it's not for want of trying. Back in Auckland I decided to take a walk over to Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World (not bad, bit limited, but it was the first marine centre to have the underwater walkthrough tunnels and it's got a marvellously cheesy Snow Cat ride complete with enormous plastic Orca that bursts from the water with a sea lion in its gob, and that's really all I look for in a tourist attraction), which on my map appeared to be about 3km away. After forty-five minutes of walking I thought I'd better check again and - proving that the word 'incompetent' up there in the description ain't just for show - realised that the map measured out the distance 2km at a time rather than 1, and the actual distance was near to 7km. I'm going to die once I get out of the cities, aren't I?

I'm now in Rotorua, and tonight a bunch of us are off to the Tamaki Maori village to be shouted and danced at by some Maoris and then stuff ourselves with steamed meat and veg prepared in a traditional hangi manner. Oh, and there's a fully licensed bar, too, just like when Cook first set foot on the North Island way back when.

One more night in Rotorua, one night in Taupo and then it's on to the Tongariro National Park to walk the Northern Circuit, which my map appears to show can be completed in an hour by an octogenarian in a wheelchair, so I shan't bother with a coat.