Yesterday morning we left the hostel around half 8 and the first stop of the day was Lady Knox Geyser, a geyser in the Wai-o-Tapu area. It is named after Lady Constance Knox, the second daughter of Uchter Knox, 15th Governor of New Zealand. The geyser is induced to erupt every day at 10:15am by dropping a compound to lower the surface tension of a liquid into the opening of the vent. Eruptions produce a jet of water reaching up to 20m and can last for over an hour. The visible spout is made of rocks placed around the base of the spring to enhance the eruption and over the years silica from the eruptions has built up to give a white cone-shaped appearance.

After Lady Knox, a short drive away was Wai-O-Tapu Geothermal Wonderland, an active geothermal area, just north of the Reporoa caldera (cauldron-like volcanic feature). It's the most colourful natural volcanic area in New Zealand, and has many hot springs noted for their colourful appearance, with the main attractions being the largest geothermal mud pool, huge volcanic craters, unique sinter terrace formations and spectacular range of colours. We spent a good couple of hours walking around the wonderland, and both amazed and impressed by the incredible array of colours as we snaked around the park.

After the natural wonder of the Wai-O-Tapu Geothermal Wonderland, we hopped back on the bus and made our way south down to the Huka Falls once again. Normally you wouldn't double up on these stops (Taupo, Huka Falls, etc) if you were doing a circular route, but since we were doing a custom route there was a bit of duplication, but nothing major. After the falls we drove on into Taupo and onto our accommodation, the YHA. Since we had already seen parts of the town the previous day, there wasn't much on our list so decided on an afternoon nap instead for some well deserved sleep catch up!

That evening, it was suggested to us to head down to Mulligans Irish Pub who do their weekly Wednesday pub quiz. There we met up with the Swiss German girls who were also on the bus and joined us for a beer or two, and then later on entered into the pub quiz. Our team name was Chuchichäschtli which is apparently one of the more difficult German words to say, and simply means 'kitchen cupboard'. Once we had the pronunciation figured out, we waited for the quiz master to try pronounce that one. For a fairly mixed team, we actually did OK in the quiz, no where near the top, but a lot better than I expected. Was good fun, especially being in an Irish bar full of tourists, most of them here for the rugby no doubt.

We stayed for another round at which point I decided to call it a night, I'm blaming jet lag for that. Got a bit concerned as it's completely out of character for me to be in the first group to leave. Definitely jet lag! But was still a good night, and at that point the others all followed and we made a fairly hurried jog home in the rain and wind.