White Water Rafting and MORE!

This morning we went white water rafting... Sophie actually decided to join in on Claire's hunt for adrenaline! We went down the Kaitiaki river, down Grade 5 rapids including 3 waterfalls - one of them being a 7 metre drop, which is the highest you can commercially raft down! Sophie did really enjoy it in the end, but was absolutely terrified - Claire could tell this just by the look on her face, and the shaking! Even the instructor noticed... Claire also enjoyed it, but still hasn't got the huge adrenaline rush she was hoping for...! We have decided she should try bee keeping!!!! And her dad has helpfully suggested she jumps out the plane on the way to Australia! If you have any suggestions please drop a comment!
So we're in Rotorua now... where we really could do with nose clips, as the smell of sulphur is really quite bad!!
Before arriving here, we were in Waitomo (we're still having trouble pronouncing the New Zealand place names!) Here we went to some glow worm caves, which was cool and since we were in the middle of no where, ended up going on a 3 hour trek with a bunch of people we met travelling on our Magic Bus. Didn't quite realise what we'd let ourselves in for... but the scenery was great, and really did look like it was out of Lord of the Rings! We even walked through caves, but would have been better if we'd had a flashlight!
We were in Whitianga before this (thankfully Claire's watch tells us what day it is - otherwise we'd have no idea!!) The hostel here was so nice - it was like a little cottage, and even had a piano in the living room! We've been really lucky with rooms so far, most of the time we've been upgraded to a twin with no extra cost! The people we met here were lovely too, and we hired a car and the 5 of us went to Cathedral Cove and Hot Water Beach together. Cathedral Cove was really pretty... Sophie was obsessed with the trees, and loved the huge rock (not sure how else to explain the rock... that's pretty much all it was - but it was really impressive!)
Hot Water Beach was awesome! We arrived at sun set, as it's only accessible at low tide. We dug ourselves a big hot tub, and it was filled with hot water from under ground. We had to find a good spot though to avoid being burned! It was a great evening with a great atmosphere and group of people! Also in Whitianga, we went kayaking (for free!) which was fun... on the way back a huge wave came up behind us, and Claire caught the top of the wave, surfing down it for a bit, until eventually she couldn't defeat the sea, and capsized! After that, it got rather chilly... Claire also got to go scuba diving (even managing to avoid the boats by going shore diving) it was really awesome, and she got to hold a starfish, see lots of animals including a crayfish, swim under rocks and feed fish sea urchins! :) Sophie was talked into going snorkelling at the same time... after wet suit issues, she really enjoyed it! Was having major doubts when had to try on the wet suit beforehand and failed miserably the first time... it was soo hard (and the first time she'd ever put on a wetsuit!- Claire and John (claires personal dive buddy (!)) eventually managed to squeeze sophie into it the 2nd attempt!) But once under water and actually in the wetsuit it was pretty awesome - she saw fish, rocks and everything you'd expect to see under the water!
So keeping busy and enjoying ourselves! Tomorrow off to Taupo, where we begin our first wwoof placement at the Tauhara Centre