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Published: December 10th 2008
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Zorbing
Now we both regret not doing this. Worms, Birds, and a Good Hot Soak
December 9, 2008
Rotorua may not have the best thermal features in the world, but it’s a good place to get an oil leak fixed. Our caravan camp manager sent us off to the nicest mechanic in NZ who found a “wee hole in the oil filter” and had us off in no time. The Jucy company paid for that, of course.
On the way out of Rotorua, we stopped at the Zorb place to watch the people roll down a hill in a giant plastic bubble ball with water inside it. It looked like a lot of fun and Joe was very willing to pay to see me become a wet ragdoll flopping down the hill in a ball. I have to admit I was tempted, but passed just knowing I would be the first to ever break an arm or a leg in that thing.
We stopped in the cute town of Otorohanga that has decided to be the “Kiwiana” city and displays large hanging placards of everything related to NZ. Hard to explain that one., but it seems every town has to have some sort of
gimmick. Joe had the best beef and mushroom pie yet, so we think it should be the “Meat Pie” town.
Of course, we had to see the famous Waitomo Cave that is on every NZ tour where there are some impressive stalagtites and stalagmites. But the coolest thing are the thousands of glowworms on the ceiling and walls of the cave that are viewed from a small boat that silently travels along the river running through the cave. A Maori woman standing in the front of the boat pulled us along via a cable strung above. I’ve never experienced so many people being so quiet for so long. It’s an awesome sight.
Our caravan park tonight is a special place near the town of Miranda. We are at the base of the Coromandel Peninsula, about an hour south of Auckland. There is a Shore Bird Center here where we stopped and learned which migratory and local birds are here and there are a lot of them. We were warned that there had been a few break-ins of cars parked at the place near the “bird hide,” so I stayed with the van while Joe walked the shore and
entered the hide. There were two very serious birders there from Sweden and the Netherlands that had spotting scopes set up and helped Joe find the good birds. Joe was able to catch three new birds for his life list: the red-knot, the wrybill (his beak looks like it could be used as a corkscrew…all wrybill’s beaks twist to the right), and the extremely elusive sharp-tailed sandpiper. There are fewer than 200 of these sandpipers that migrate to NZ each year. Most of the migratory birds here come from Siberia.
Our caravan park has its own thermal swimming pool and we had a very good soak tonight in the soothing hot water. There is a group of Maori language teachers here on a retreat and we spent about a half hour in the pool talking to one about their culture and the issues facing her people today. She was quite bright and full of interesting stories. Some of these ladies have the traditional Maori tattoos on their chins and arms and legs. At the moment it sounds like they are having a good time, some loud laughter and music coming from the porch of their unit. I certainly won’t
Giant Apple
With the giant mango, the giant banana, and now the giant apple we can have one big fruit salad. complain about the noise, I think all teachers need a party every now and then.
We are relaxed and I’m sure I’ll dream of oily shiny worms that speak Maori.
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