Claire spent the worst two weeks
of auckland's weather 'pottering around' between jobs, then we got our first taste of Kiwi weddings seeing our close friends Johannah and Fergus get married (pictured), and after Claire's first week of work at Telecom we drove down to spend the weekend celebrating her birthday in Rotorua.Hoping to make the birthday girl's bday a good one, the surprise (for Claire) of rolling into Hamurana
Lodge (pictured) had the desired effect. It's an impressive Tudor style 35 year old mansion converted into a lodge complete with a classic Rolls in the drive. We were 
hosted by a couple of attentive and courteous native French speaking men who arranged for champagne and cheese cake to be brought to our room for Claire's birthday the evening we arrived (pictured).On Saturday, for the second part of Claire's birthday
present, we went sailing on a 53 foot catamaran. It was just the two of us and the skipper, a nice Kiwi bloke named Matt who recently sailed the boat we were on from the Carribean to its new home in NZ. Claire got to help out sailing (pictured pulling up the main sail), and I just enjoyed the ride.Rotorua and the surround area is the most active volcanic region in NZ. Part of our sailing trip included docking at a series of pools of varying temperatures fed by hot water springs only
accessible by boat. It was a brisk day, with good winds, and a soak in the hot water pools - one too hot to stay in - made for a perfect day.On Sunday we went to visit one of the three main volcanic parks - Wai-o-tapu "Thermal Wonderland". I loved it, although it does smell
more than a bit of rotten eggs. The park has a series of natural pools (pictured the 'champagne pool') coloured by variety of elements prevalent in the hot water springs and volcanic vents. Nearby was a surprisingly entertaining set of mud pools constantly 'exploding' with bubbles of gas venting from fumaroles under the surface (pictured).We
ventured back in to Rotorua for a late lunch and stumbled onto a festival of sorts. Truly a surreal Kiwi experience, complete with wood chopping and boar hunting competitions (pictured). The crowds gathered to see two men race to chop through 50cm thick logs adjacent to where the boars were weighed and measured. Neither of us had witnessed a wood chopping competition before (let alone a boar hunting one), but it was hard to not be fascinated, and with a couple of Speight's draught beers we cheered along with everyone else.
