Another smelly day

The perfect antidote to all the rugged isolation of the Northland - Rotorua. Tourist heaven. There are so many things to see and do (and pay for) here, it would be impossible to get bored you might think. However, when we arrived early and eager at Wai o Tapu - one of the major geothermal parks in the area - we met the most disillusioned looking crusty traveller type shuffling around. He looked at us, sighed and said with resignation, "Another smelly day".

It is pretty stinky here. There's a lot of hydrogen sulphide in the atmosphere and the whole place is a hotbed of geothermal activity. Wai o Tapu itself contains some of the most pretty results of all the action. The turqouise, green and strange milky waters, steaming and stinking away, are quite a sight. We got to the park in time to see the Lady Knox Geyser erupt. We didn't realise, but in order to make the attraction work for its money, an enthusiastic beardy man sets it off at the same time every day using a bag of soap flakes to break the water tension. Kind of took the mystery out of the whole thing.

Nearer to Rotorua town, the Whakarewarewa reserve, or the part of it we paid to see, contained some more willing geysers that perform on and off all day. In addition to all the geothermal stuff was an interesting reconstruction of a traditional Maori village and meeting house and informative Maori guides to put the whole thing into context. We were there in time to catch the noon performance comprising a traditional Maori welcome, involving us all, much singing and a fearsome haka. Thoroughly enjoyable and very professionally done. It was particularly awesome watching a tattooed muscly young Maori warrior run at us as part of the welcoming ceremony, with the traditional scary face, tongue poking and grimmacing. I thought so anyway. Graham wasn't scared, so he says.

We completed our geothermal activities with a trip to the Polynesian Spa on the shores of Lake Rotorua. We didn't pay for the fancy stuff, but for the price of a ticket to the local baths, you can sit in natural hot pools overlooking the lake and feel thoroughly pampered.

Rotorua has a heap of adrenaline experiences on offer. We got all the leaflets and pored over them. Graham fancied the luge and freefall simulator. Top of my list was the Kiwi Encounter - promising a chance to see kiwi chicks up close and personal. Now that's thrilling! It was the impossibly cute photo in the leaflet of a baby kiwi nestling in someone's hand that sold me. I can't reproduce it here, but check it out. I won - mainly on the grounds that it would be a quick trip. We were a bit disappointed that there weren't any new chicks in the incubators, but we got to watch the youngest chick having a nap, and two older kiwis huffing and snuffling around their nocturnal enclosures. They are delightfully grumpy, solitary creatures who have more in common with hedgehogs than any kind of bird really. Fascinating stuff. Kiwis are actually closer to mammals than birds. They have marrow in their bones, large sturdy legs and feet, only tiny wing nubbins and long whiskers at the top of their beaks. They evolved without many predators and consequently got pretty close to extinction thanks to the introduciton of dogs, weasels and possums, etc, to NZ, which is where the Kiwi Encounter breeding programme comes in. Very special.

After our kiwi experince, we headed further out of town to the Agrodome, a kind of sheep farming theme park, where the freefall simulator and a host of other adrenaline activities were situated. Once we got there, however, neither of us really fancied trying anything. Maybe we're just chicken, but we just didn't want to shell out a load of dollars for a few seconds' rush, deciding to save our cash and maybe (just maybe) try something when we got to Queenstown - NZ's thrill capital. Phew. So we went to see the sheep shearing show instead! Slightly daft to travel half way around the world to see a sheep show, when there are so many woolly bleaters back home, but it was great fun. The different breeds were introduced onto stage by the friendly sheep shearer. The sheep were undoubtedly the stars of the show, knowing exactly where to stand and what was expected of them. They were rewarded with tasty treats and seemed totally unphased by the spotlight. There was some shearing, lots of informative wool-talk and a sheep dog demonstration. Top notch value for money. Afterwards we went up on stage to pat the sheep and I even fed a couple of lambs. Fantastic!

The thrilling creature encounters continued as we headed south to Lake Taupo and stopped off at the Huka Prawn Farm. Another enterprising tourist trap that was so different it was worth the entrance fee. We had an informative guide of the breeding tanks and found out more than we really needed to know about the Malaysian freshwater prawn. Very aggressive, randy little blighters apparently! We were allowed to feed the young prawns by holding some fish food in our hands underwater and waiting for them to sniff it out and come and take a bite. Not for the ticklish - I couldn't take more than a couple of seconds. After that we tried to fish for some full grown ones in the pools outside. Not easy. We got a few nibbles, but time was pressing and we had to leave without a single one. The on-site restaurant is the real attraction. They'll cook whatever you catch for free. As we were prawnless, we shelled out for a prawn platter for two and enjoyed every tasty morsel.

We carried on to see the Huka Falls and found a campsite on the shores of Lake Taupo. Exhausted after another action packed few days, we relaxed in our van and contemplated the sky diving on offer at Taupo. We read all the leaflets and thought about it some more, but neither of us were entirely convinced. We decided to press on the next day, convincing ourselves we can always do something scary in Queenstown. It's becoming our stock excuse.

---

---