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Published: January 2nd 2006
Happy New Year
The sky above Rotorua at midnight.We've signed up for something called the
Magic Bus to get around the North and South Islands of New Zealand. Departing from Auckland, our first stop was
Rotorua - an inland town known for its Maori population and natural thermal activity. The city is aptly nicknamed "Sulphur City," but it turned out to be a really nice spot to celebrate the New Year.
On the way to Rotorua, we stopped at the
Waitomo Caves, where we donned wetsuits and ventured into the caves for what they call "Black Water Rafting" on innertubes. The caves are covered in glowworms, insect larvae that literally glow in order to attract food. When the flashlights are off and everything is quiet, the caves are truly stunning, and the slide down the waterfalls doesn't hurt the experience either.
Once we got to Rotorua, we, of course, started to scope out places for New Year's fun. Our bus driver, "Danger" Dave (no, really, this is how he introduced himself), pointed us toward a backpacker bar in town, but we passed on the advertised "foam party" and cover charge. Instead, we took our hostel owner's suggestion and made our way toward Rotorua's "Mardi Gras" on the lakefront, meeting
Cave Tubing
The group strikes the traditional All-Black pose before heading into the darkness. a few of our fellow "Magic" travellers on the way. The outdoor festival, similar to what many U.S. cities do for the 4th of July, featured a music stage, food stands, and carnival rides, culminating with midnight fireworks over Lake Rotorua. We did manage to celebrate at several bars along the way, including one with Chris' favorite bar name to date - "The Pheasent Plucker." At another, two Kiwi girls were more than happy to bring Justin up to speed on New Zealand's music scene.
New Year's Day was really chill, as nearly everything in New Zealand seemed to be closed for the holiday, but we did manage to lift ourselves out of the hostel and make our way to Rotorua's
Polynesian Spa hot springs - a really tough day. In the evening, we got picked up in town and made our way with about 200 other tourists to the
Tamaki Maori Village. This can be compared to an Hawaiian luau - a touristy thing that cannot have much authenticity, but we (or at least Chris) felt that we should see something Maori during our stay here. We were greeted by the Maori warriors, issued a "peace challenge," invited into a recreated
Maori Peace Offering
The "traditional" way of greeting visiting tribes to a Maori feast, featuring the reincarnation of John Belushi. "pre-European" village, and fed a meal that while cooked with hot rocks in the ground surprisingly included the British favorites bread stuffing and chocolate pudding. All the same, the evening was fun, and the Tamaki tribe are making a fat penny off tourists like us.
This morning we caught "Magic" to the town of
Taupo, on a lake which several New Zealanders have bragged is bigger than Singapore. On the way, we stopped at
Rock N Ropes, and Justin got his adrenaline running by jumping off the high swing, while Chris made sure to capture it all with the camera. Our hope is to hike the Tongariro Crossing tomorrow, but the weather doesn't look entirely cooperative. We're off to meet "Danger" Dave for dinner and drinks.
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