pieces, the size of the lake was hugely increased, and the chief died as a result of his injuries. Apparently the local people refused to rescue him, as they thought it was his fault as he’d foreseen it!! The moral of the story being no-one likes a smart-arse!! J Needless to say, the tourist trade was destroyed, for the time being. Now it attracts far more visitors as the Waimangu Volcanic Valley, a Geothermally active valley which is essentially the bottom part of the eruption rift, and one of the two more popular attractions in the area!!

Anyhow, back in the museum, the first attraction was a short film about the events of that fateful night in 1886. It was in a proper small movie theatre, and seemed to be a pretty ordinary dramatisation until the moment of the eruption, when to our amazement, the seats started shaking and rocking!!! It reminded us of the virtual racing car theatre we’d

been in at Toyota Mega Web in Tokyo!! I must say it added to the experience pretty well though! This was followed by a look at the basement of the bath house, with all it’s associated plumbing and bathing paraphernalia, and lots more rally interesting exhibits on the history of the area, both violent and not so!! They even had the rooms where they gave people mineral baths complete with electric shocks, as it was thought to be beneficial to certain illnesses!!! Unfortunately we’d just missed the lookout on the top of the building, as it was being refurbished and wouldn’t own for another 3 days after 2 months of closure!! DOH!! Next was a brief look at the former swimming baths, which is now a function venue, and at the time was being readied for a posh wedding meal!! (Bet it wasn’t as posh as our though! J). All this museum-ing had made us peckish, so we stopped by the lake for a butty, and admired a replica of a Maori Waka. Suitably refuelled, we headed off for a closer look at Kuirau park which