Friday 6th Nov.
What a cold night, I had to get up and get dressed to keep warm but the sun is up this morning and not a cloud in the sky. Took a ride to Marokopa Falls via Mangapohue Natural bridge and Pirpiri Caves. The caves were not worth the effort but the Natural bridge and the falls were especially the falls. From there I rode down to Marakopa beach and nearly got stuck in the sand. I was going to take a trip to the Waitomo Caves but the cheapest trip is $70 and there are some areas were you can see the glow worms at night for free, so will check that out tonight and if its no good will do the caves tomorrow.
Glow worms were cool but definitely not worth $70. I tried taking some photos but needed a tripod. On the way back to the camp site I decided to opt out of camp site cooking and went for a meal and a couple of Ciders. 
I think its going to be another cold night to night as the sky is cloudless.

 
Saturday 7th Nov.
Rode from Waiatomo caves planning on stopping off to see the film set of the Hobbit but when I got there I kept on riding it being a Saturday it was very busy. I rode on to Rotrua and met up with Clint and Rosie, they are both bikers and contacted me through the Horizons Unlimited Forum inviting me to stay if I was in the area.  Clint had place just a few miles out of Rotorua by the water he had a spare room on the side of his garage I had a great night with them I have a list as long as my arm now of places to see and roads to ride, we had meatloaf for dinner followed by more studying of maps and planning possible routes depending on wether conditions. 

Sunday 8th Nov
I got up quite late I slept like a log, its certainly better sleeping in a bed than a tent plus all the beer wine and whisky helped. Clint had to go to work Sunday morning so I went to Rotorua to do the white water rafting that Ferg had recommended, Kaituna cascades a level 5 white water rapids. The water was cold but not like the icy cold water of North Carolina this was about 16deg C and half way through we were offered the opportunity for a swim which I took them up on. I nearly fell out of the raft coming over the 7meter high water fall I was completely submerged and upside down with my feet in the air, I nearly pulled my fingers out their sockets holding on and some how managed to hoist my self back in to the raft. The trip was a lot shorter than I expected but was well worth it. Afterwards I went for a spot of lunch and rode around the surrounding country side of Rotorua.