While getting ready in the morning, John and Damien told me that before I came back to the room last night, someone had opened the door, apologized for coming into the wrong room and then promptly turned around, exited the room, leaned over the railing and vomited over the side onto the ledge below. As I walked out, I took a look over the side of the railing to see the evidence. It was clear that whoever he was (not from our group), he drank a lot of red wine.

After breakfast in the bar, we said goodbye to Remiko, from Japan, who was leaving our tour. The rest of us loaded our luggage and boarded the coach for a short drive to see some geothermal geysers. While they emanated much heat and warmth, they also emitted a strong sulfur smell, not unlike rotten eggs. We then proceeded to the New Zealand Maori Arts & Crafts Institute and Te Whakarewarewatangaoteopetauaawahiao (Maori for “The gathering place for the war parties of Wahiao”), or the Whakarewarewa Thermal Reserve. We had a tour of the institute and reserve, including watching students as they worked on Maori carvings as well as even more geothermal activity and bubbling mud pools. There was also a Maori village display, and towards the end of our guided tour, we got to see native Kiwi birds. The Kiwi is a nocturnal bird, and therefore to see them, we had to enter a dark cave where behind glass walls, we could see the birds in a simulated nocturnal environment.

Try to pronounce that!

We continued on the coach thereafter. We dropped off people who were taking part in a few optional activities, including Rock 'n Ropes (a lot of climbing and dangling in the air with ropes, strapped in a harness...not my thing personally) and a jetboat ride on the HukaJet around the Huka Falls. The rest of us continued on the coach into Taupo. Taupo is situated on the shore of Lake Taupo, the largest lake in New Zealand, formed when a volcano collapsed into itself, creating a giant crater. The rest of us not taking part in any of the optional activities had practically the whole afternoon to ourselves. Stuart, Eric, Claire and I all had excellent Indian cuisine for lunch. We then did much walking around Taupo, walking in and out of shops. I spent quite some time in an Internet cafe to e-mail home to friends and family. I even chatted with my sister back in Toronto online using MSN Messenger.

Those taking part in the optional activities were transported into Taupo where we met up with them and then continued for a short ride on the coach until we reached our hotel for the night. Our hotel, the Lakeland Motor Inn, was made up of several dormitory-like buildings, only two stories high, and with large glass sliding doors for entry. This time, I was sharing a room with Stuart and John. After a couple of hours to get refreshed and ready, we gathered just outside of our rooms for our optional lake cruise and dinner. We boarded the coach for the drive down to the shore and then all boarded the boat for our evening cruise, which included fishing on the lake, lots of drinks at the bar, and a buffet dinner, followed by karaoke. Gavin and Tracy opened up and then most everyone got involved in one way or another, taking their turns with the microphone, many singing in duets or groups.

We continued the karaoke for more than an hour and then finally docked back at shore. We all ambled our way to a local bar to kill some time with even more drinks until we were to head off to a nightclub called The Holy Cow to, as Gavin described, "party like a rock star". Stuart, John, Colleen, Jane and I were getting impatient just watching everyone else get drunk sitting around on the outside patio at the bar that we headed off to The Holy Cow early. When we got there, it was pretty dead without much activity going on, despite the music was playing. We were already into the drinks before the rest of the group dropped in, losing some of the people in our group in between the bar and The Holy Cow. It finally started to pick up with people dancing on the rather small slightly elevated dance floor. Drinks were flowing aplenty as well as more than a handful of rounds of tequila shots. The night didn't really get started until our morning song, "I'm Outta Love", came blasting on the speakers. At that moment, there was a mad rush by everyone in our group onto the dance floor. Things just got crazy after that with more drinks and more rounds of tequila shots and the floor getting so overcrowded that many of us were dancing on the tables. Just as midnight passed, the DJ announced that there was a birthday girl in the crowd, and it was one of our own, Bernardine from Australia. After "Happy Birthday" was sung, it was back to the dancing. By about 1:30AM, all but 4 of us had left. All that remained were birthday girl Bernardine, her sister Teresa, Mark (also from Australia), and me. We didn't do much dancing thereafter. We mainly sat at our table and at the top of our lungs, sang along to every song that was played. Just before 2:00AM, we decided to finally head back to our hotel. Bernardine was the only smart one among us to bring her copy of the hotel list we were all given, so we knew where we were supposed to go at the end of the night. We stumbled out onto the street and eventually hailed a taxi to take us back to the hotel. Back at the hotel, John and Stuart were already in bed asleep, but they had left the door unlocked for me to get in.

Thermal mud pools and geysers

On the cruise: Chad, Christine and April

Jane, Stuart and Colleen

Karaoke with Tracy and Gavin

The guys and girls singing in harmony