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Published: August 8th 2007
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Today was our last day in Rotorua but we had the whole day here before catching the bus later in the day. Unfortunately that also meant checking out of the room early and storing our stuff in lockers. I managed to have my money stolen twice by a locker and when I approached the owner about it he just laughed in my face and told me not only could he do nothing as he didn't own the lockers but that I was stupid and the first person he'd come across in the time he'd worked here who had tried to put the wrong dollar coin amounts in the lockers- so because of this needlessly, nasty piece of work I really don't recommend anyone in Rotorua stay in Planet Nomad Pack packers.
After I'd eventually got my bag packed away I caught the shuttle to Hells Gate. Hells Gate is a mud treatment spa set on a geothermal reserve. I first joined the walk around the park with a guide who explained lots about the history of its creation, how Maori warriors used it as a place of healing and revitalisation. One of the most famous stories concerns George Bernard
Shaw, briefly: After visiting the area in the early 1900's the well known Atheist decided that this must be the gateway to Hell, and it is thought after being here a week that Shaw changed his ways to become a believer. The people were so taken by the playwright that from that time on, they allowed the area to be known in English as Hell's Gate. The reserve, which is actually very different from Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Springs, is more unpredictable and explosive with paths regularly having to be rerouted around the park due to them falling away. Towards the end of the walk I managed to talk to the guide who was Maori and was actually part of yesterday's Maori evening; I managed to get in some questions on what it is to be a Maori today. The answers made lots of sense but are too extensive to go into here. Post walk and feeling sweaty, I headed for my mud bath.
The first past of the treatment is a hot shower (just in case you were not hot enough from the walk through a thermal park!) and this was to open the pores. Then came the mud
bath.
It was a very weird feeling sitting in this warm/hot mud, I'm still not sure I liked it but I was required to sit there for 20mins. In this time I painted on a mud moustache and a beard and found a couple of long hairs in the mud that made me feel quite queasy! As soon as it was time I was quite happy to get out but that was before they explained I had to have a freezing cold shower to counter the hot mud effect on my body. Oh my god, it actually hurt, it was unbearable but I was brave and managed to get all the mud off myself. Next step the Sulphur baths these were much like the ones at the Polynesian baths but I think they contained more minerals that lay like a scum over the surface of the water. They were hot too but none of the 42c that made me nearly pass out. They were a relaxing end but I still I went Beetroot and couldn't stay the whole time in the pool as I began to feel very weird. After a very quick shower I headed for my half
our massage which was fab. Still looking tomato red I caught the shuttle back.
Eventually the magic bus arrived and took us all to the next destination, Mount Maunganui. This was one of the places we couldn't have really cared less about coming to as the info in our Magic books was less than extensive. However as the driver gave us a mini orientation in the bus we realised this was a really lovely little coastal town. It turns out Mount Maunganui is a surfers oasis and they were currently holding a life saving competition. It was a really sunny day when we arrived so we dumped our stuff in the hostel (a very nice hostel too) and headed for a walk to the beach. Once on the beach we took a gorgeous walk on the sand discovering an amazing array of shells and pebbles. It was a totally picturesque beach (see slide show) and the sun was low in the sky making for some stunning Photo's. As we approached the far end of the beach we came across lots of surfing action so we watched that for a while. When we got hungry we headed to a cluster
of restaurants and had something to eat. The problem was that now we were miles away form the hostel and that required a long walk back that unfortunately we punctuated with many pub stops. The last stop I remember was an Irish bar and that is where it goes blank, allegedly I was carried back by one of the guys from the hostel but I will never know for sure.
The next morning was blurry and as I came down to the hostel kitchen at 6.30am I wasn't sure if I was seeing strait as a guy seemed to be baking brownies; this very unusual hostel behaviour for that time in the morning but especially so, considering I've never seen anything made in a hostel kitchen except pasta. After several cups of tea and pain killers we all jumped on the bus, again regretting that we had so little time in this lovely town. The next stop was the beginning of the end of our time in New Zealand; Auckland.
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