Rotorua & Waitomo

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Noooo…….You’ve guessed it another early start and ouch my head hurts! Way too much last night. We’re off to Rotorua today, the geothermal and cultural centre of New Zealand. Once again we stop en-route for a walk. I’ve decided that within the insurance policy for Kiwi Experience they have to stop everyday and make us go for walks to keep us healthy because they know we are just getting drunk every night!! This time the walk was Karangahake Scenic Reserve, where we crossed swing bridges walked through a 1km railway tunnel that used to be used for gold mining and along the riverside. Sam the joker of the group thought it would be funny to bounce on the bridge, after I’d just told him that I am terrified of heights. I was not amused. Then he thought it even funnier to pick me up and pretend to throw me over, he was lucky he finished the walk in one piece!

After a picnic lunch we made our way to Rotorua, although I couldn’t eat, still suffering from last night. We passed through Matamata, home of Hobbiton for all the Lord of the Rings fans. We arrived in Roturua to a strange smell. This town is bizarre, you can see steam coming from the ground and boiling mud pools, the smell is sulphur dioxide, created because of the geothermal activity. The Maori name for the gardens here is Whangapipiro (“wh” in Maori is prenounced “f” so fong-a-pe-pero) which translates to an evil smelling place, quite appropriate I thought. First stop in Roturua was Tamaki Tours were they told us a bit about Mauri history/culture and we tasted some traditional foods. We were then given the option to go to a Mauri village that evening to have Hangi (Mauri food cooked in the ground) and experience the Haka (Mauri dance, like what the All Blacks do). I’m ashamed to say that Sam, Sean, Becky and I were too hung-over. We opted for a swim in the hostel pool, which was heated naturally. Like I said before this is a geothermal town. Getting in the pool was like getting in a bath, which was crazy because it was pretty cold out. So like slobs we lounged by the pool, ate takeaway and watched a movie, which we all fell asleep to!

On our way out of Rotorua the next morning we stopped at Te Puia Geothermal Reserve. Bizarre place. It has hot steaming geysers and boiling mud pools. The geyser erupted whilst we were there; it was amazing to see the hot water just shooting in the air. The rest of the day was a pretty lazy one for me, other than the half hour bush walk at Ruakan Reserve. We arrived in Waitomo and the majority of the bus went tubing through Waitomo caves to see the glow worms, stalagmites, fossil oysters etc, but being a little claustrophobic, I had no urge to go floating in the cold and dark in a big tube, so I stayed at the hostel and did my washing, how exciting!

When everyone got back the boys decided they were cooking, so Becky and I sat back and watched Sam, Sean & Stu make a mess in the kitchen. I’ll give them their dues though, they cooked stir fry and it wasn’t half bad! I liked this Kiwi Experience more and more each day, men digging our hot pools and cooking dinner…..it’s a tough life!

After dinner, yeap you’ve guessed it, off to the pub, where we met a few “interesting” locals and played a bit of pool and we got drunk again!

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Photos

This photo pretty much sums up the state we were in
Becky & Sean totally passed out half way through the movie