Day 7: 'Copter a load of Sulphates

Okay sorry about the lack of pictures guys but NZ is surprisingly stingy when it comes to Internet access, let alone poking things in USB sockets and such like, so above is a 'stock shot' to try and enhance this post.

Yes I know we're a few days behind posting, but then you lot have consistently failed to catch up with New Zealand time so it all works out. In fact I think we get the lottery numbers 12 hours before you do, but I digress.

So day 7 we managed to squeeze in possibly the most amazing activity I have ever done, we booked a helicopter flight over the range of volcanoes that surrounds Rotorua and thanks to my camera I was given the front seat for the journey - not that it would have made much difference I feel. The journey from the sky - narrated by our friendly pilot - took us right over the pictured crater that is 18km long and was created in 4 hours during the regions most violent eruption just over a 100 years ago. In the distance we could see all the other volcanoes that are dotted along the fault line, 7 in total. We were also given a brief landing and guide round Hell's Gate where all the mud and steam bubbles to the surface at extremely high temperatures, the whole experience was awesome and I loved every minute of it.

Unfortunately due to lack of time and my inability to write I can't possibly do the whole journey justice, even the many pictures I took don't seem to capture the scale of what we saw. So we left Rotorua straight after feeling quite humbled by the mornings activity.

A mere 470 km further and we arrived in Wellington via Lake Taupo and the Desert Road, both also spectacular. Anyway got to go but next post tales of fine dining and Slag Alley...