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Published: November 24th 2009
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Blue Lake.
The other side. The drivers here in New Zealand? All crazy. The country is essentially one big zig zag for a road and yet people fly by us every day going 120 km with their cars looking like they could slide off the pavement and roll down a hill at any moment.
And then there's the hairstyles. Saying that the rat-tail and the mullet are doing well in New Zealand would be a huge understatement - They are thriving. Sometimes I am the one who feels like the outsider because I don't have a little party in the back like so many others.
But I disgress...
We had spent the last week or so in Tauranga/Mount Maunganui, looking for jobs and spending some time at the beach and around the town. We were starting to feel a little stagnant as the week wore on, so we went and bought some tennis rackets on Thursday and found a nice set of courts to play on at the Mount. The facilities are quite the contrast from back in Halifax - there was probably two dozen full size courts (including 12 on perfect hardcourt surfaces) sitting in the middle of town with barely anyone
using them. It was a nice change from some of the places in Nova Scotia, where you wait 40 minutes to play on a cracked up piece of asphalt with a dandelion growing out of the middle of it.
After our tennis game, we decided to hit the beach and do a little bodysurfing. We stayed out there for 15 minutes or so when we realized that the waves were a little too big to bodysurf - so I went and rented a surfboard to give the real experience a shot.
LA was kind enough to give me some free lessons, and I managed to get the hang of it before the waves had shrunk again. I even rode my last two in all the way to the shore, which was enough for me to call it a day and keep my dignity intact. I have to give a lot of the credit to Leigh Ann however, she was a great teacher and I think I might have felt a little push here and there to help me hit those first few waves.
The weekend was good, although I can't say that anything out of the ordinary
Me.
Fish and Chips in Rotorua. happened. We had a few drinks at our campsite and talked to our neighbours for the night (a German couple) for a little while, and then played some cards on Friday night. We also got some Christmas cards ready to send home and did some laundry, and since the weather was overcast all weekend long, we didn't get up to anything else too exciting.
This is the point when we were beginning to feel a little restless, so we decided to hit the road on Monday morning. We headed towards Rotorua, but drove through a place called Te Puke on our way there. Despite having a less than appetizing name, it was actually quite nice... as both sides of the highway are lined with kiwi field after kiwi field. We stopped in at a place called Kiwi 360, which has a gift shop and a 4-story high Kiwi, among other things. We sampled some Kiwi wine (in moderation of course) before getting back on the road towards Rotorua.
We decided that we were going to go Zorbing yesterday afternoon. Since Rotorua is one of the only places in the world you can try it, there was no sense
Kiwi 360.
LA baby. in letting such a good opportunity pass us by. I went three times - once on the zig zag course, and twice in the same Zorb as Leigh-Ann on the speed route. Each time you go, they dump a few buckets of warm water in there with you to liven things up. You can't help but start to laugh uncontrollably the second you start to roll down the hill. You have zero idea of what's going on the entire time - it's just a mix of water and limbs... but it sure is a good time.
We stayed in a cottage last night on the Waiteti Trout Stream, which is a short drive out of town. The place was awesome. Reasonly cheap, with just about everything you'd look for in a place to stay for the night. They even had a hot tub, which I took advantage of for some post-Zorbing remedy.
That brings us to today. We spent the morning at a Geothermal park here in the heart of the city of Rotorua. The place is littered with dozens and dozens of hot springs, bubbling mud and other natural wonders caused by underground geysers and other activity
Geothermal Park in Rotorua.
Green, green, and more green. below the earth. We walked around and did some sightseeing in the afternoon, before the heat got too bad (Sorry everyone - I tried to go as long as I could without mentioning the weather). We headed out to a place called Blue Lake for a swim and did a short hike afterwards to get a little more excercise and take a few pictures.
We're back in town now, staying at a Hostel called 'Kiwi Paka', where we're sharing a site with two guys from England. They unpacked their tent for the first time tonight while we were there, and it turns out it's meant for one child, and one child only. One of these guys couldn't squeeze into it - let alone the both of them. Those silly Brits.
If there's one bad thing about Rotorua - it's that the large amount of geothermal madness gives off a very distinct smell of sulphur throughout the town, which if you've never smelled, closely resembles the stench of rotten eggs. It's much worse in some parts of the city, but there's definately some street corners that you turn before getting blasted with a big whiff of egg. I guess
everyone who lives here can probably break wind at any time though, without having to worry about the consequences. That would be nice, no?
But it makes you wonder how the tourist capital of New Zealand became the place that smells like an outhouse in 90 degree heat? Much like the mullets, the rat-tails, and the grandmothers that I see fly past me in a blur on those hairpin turns, there's a lot about New Zealand that I still need to figure out.
Love,
Fully.
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Ryan Theriault
non-member comment
$50 says Brett comes home with "a little party in the back".