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Published: December 30th 2004
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Sinking?!
At the bottom of the biggest commercially rafted waterfall in the world - I'm the one with my mouth open, Graeme's sitting behind me. We’ve recently returned from the first half of our Christmas holiday - four days in Rotorua, the thermal capital of NZ. We’ve had a full-on few days - here’s a sample!
We left Auckland at the crack of noon on Boxing Day, heading first for the airport to collect our hire car. We were pleasantly surprised that the cheap car we had booked was actually pretty new and shiny - bonus! Graeme took the wheel and we headed south for Rotorua. We arrived at about tea time, and after checking into our hostel (we were meant to be camping, but after lots of rain the previous week, decided to opt for the comfort of a roof and a bed) quickly found a nice pub in which to eat dinner. We had a relatively quiet evening - a few beers in the hostel bar, before heading for bed.
Monday morning we were up early to head for the Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland, where the Lady Knox Geyser erupts every day at 10.15 prompt. We fought our way through the thousands of tourists with the same idea as us, and against all odds, actually made it with time to spare. We were
so glad we did - it was pretty spectacular. After watching the geyser for a while (there’s only so long you can watch hot water shooting out of the ground) we headed round the rest of the park. Rotorua sits on a geological fault line, and has many volcanoes, hot springs, mud pools and active geysers. The park was fantastic - so many colours, steaming pools, bubbling mud, acid pools, luminous lakes, and none of it man made. We loved it! The plus was that it was a gorgeous day - blue skies and sunshine, so the walk round the park was fab. We spent the whole morning there. That evening we had our second brilliant experience - a visit to a traditional Maori village, with a performance by a cultural Maori group (singing, dancing and musical instruments, and it included the Haka) followed by a Hangi (feast) where all the food is cooked by hot stones in an underground pit. It was a great evening - really good fun (even the bus drivers were mad), and a good insight into some of the traditions here before Europeans arrived.
On Tuesday we were up early again to go white
At the top of the waterfall.
I'm the one crouched down in the middle - I wasn't taking any chances! water rafting on the Kaituna river. We had opted for the ‘short but scary’ trip rather than the ‘long and gentle’ one, which meant rafting over the highest commercially rafted waterfall in the world. At 7 metres high, it looked pretty scary, and the instructors had us psyched up for it, shouting chants and waving our paddles in the air - all good fun! I thought it was great, but after it was over, Graeme turned to me and said “Is that it? Where was the big waterfall?”. I nearly fell over…! Apparently not enough adrenaline for him, so we decided to book up for the other trip that this company do - White Water Sledging. More of that later!
After our ‘tame’ rafting, we headed for Tarawera Buried Village, a village which was buried in mud after Mt Tarawera erupted in 1886. The village was excavated in the 1930s and 1980s, and it was pretty interesting. There was also a nice walk to a waterfall through some pretty forest, and a view of the volcano itself, which split in half when it erupted.
That evening we headed for the Polynesian Spa - a spa resort which has
Jo at the Champagne Pool
The Champagne Pool was so called because it bubbles and hisses - you wouldn't want to drink from it as it contains arsenic and can reach temperatures of 75C. pools of natural mineral water at differing temperatures which are supposed to be very good for one’s health. Conde Naste voted it one of the world’s Top 10 Spa resorts - however, we were very glad we weren’t visiting any that didn’t make the top ten. The pools are all communal, and although I tried very hard to enjoy it, I had to agree with Graeme when he described it as sitting in a warm bath of rotting eggs. Yes, the smell was very bad (because of the sulphur, not because of the other people) but the spas were full of dead flies and hair… Yuk!
On Wednesday we were picked up bright and early to drive to the Rangitaiki River for the sledging. For those of you not in the know, white water sledging means donning wetsuit, helmet and flippers, lying on a sledge not dissimilar to the one you would use on snow, and propelling yourself down a river (as seen on The Amazing Race on TV). This is fine on calm water, but this river had Grade 3 and 4 rapids on it (FYI - Grade 5 is the highest that would be safe to raft
Graeme at Wairere Falls
This is the nice waterfall near the buried village. on). Your head is very close to the water (and rocks) and you spend lots of time being hit in the face with fast-moving water and spray… The company we used were excellent - very safety conscious, good equipment, lots of training before going on the river, but none of it prepared us for what was in store. The first set of rapids included the infamous Rock A - a huge boulder in the middle of the river, which must be avoided at all cost. We were bumped and thrown down the river, struggling to keep control with our flippers, our legs (and my hip at one point, I have a lovely bruise) hitting rocks on the way down. There was so much more adrenaline than when we were rafting - way, way too much in fact! We spent an hour and a half on the river - Graeme did sledge the Grade 4 rapids - I chickened out. At the end we both agreed that we had never ever been so scared in all our lives. I am quite happy to tell you that neither of us will white water sledge again!
Sledging was it for Wednesday’s activities
Mount Tarawera
The chip out of the top of the mountain is where the crater split it in half during the last eruption in 1886. - we were so tired that by the time we got back to the hostel at around 3, we just pottered about for the rest of the day and went to bed early. This morning we had planned to visit Hobbiton, but it was pouring rain and we didn’t fancy walking around a wet muddy field for two hours - another time! We drove up to Auckland in driving rain, and we’re currently trying to get ready to head for the Bay of Islands for New Year in the morning. Hopefully we won’t be doing anything so scary up there…
Hope you all have a great New Year,
Love Jo and Graeme x
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