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Cathedral Cove
The hole in the rock that gives the cove its name.. I think I sit writing this looking out over the bay towards the steadily disappearing mountains that make up the local panorama. The closes the world in until there is no horizon but grey. Even in the rain Raglan is a beautiful place. Still, to recap the past few days since my last post.
After a days break in Auckland I joined the Kiwi Bus and the 7 other passengers (a coach of 40 had left the day before). The bus took us out to Mercury Bay with a stop at Cathedral Cove along the way. Whitianga, as it is known to the locals, is a small but very hospitable town and very nice in summer apparently. The backpackers is run in a very informal way, the distinction between staff and guest is vague at best. With another small tour group staying at the hostel at the same time as us what followed was a very relaxed evening spent at the local Spa. Lost Springs (or a name to that effect) utilises the geothermal activity to heat the water for their multiple outside hot tubs. Mercury Bay, very much worth the stay if only for a night, probably more during the summer
Err
The same bit of rock months.
So the morning comes and we leave Whitianga, as lunchtime approaches we find ourselves in Hobbiton, Or at least a place with a sign saying Hobbiton and more LOTR tour buses than local services. Quickly bypassing the Shire for fear of the 3 ft demons that terrorised Middle Earth (seriously read the books, they spark revolution in major cities, assassinate leaders and generally destruction in their wake.)
While there are plenty of other less random stops on our way to Rotorua, they do not easily come to mind so to spare my mental faculties and you my ramblings I shall move swiftly on. We come to the town of Rotorua, sandwiched between hills and lakes, it smells of boiled egg hence its nickname Rottenrua. This is, of course, due to the hydrogen sulphie released from the bubbling hot pools that are littered across the area.
The first evening here was spent at the Tamaki Village. Part living museum and part song and part live concert. Set before the Europeans landed, it tells the story of an ambitious warrior setting out to join a warlord to rampage around in the south island. It starts with a terrific
Hobbiton
This small rustic town has modernised dramatically in the past few years. display by the warriors of the village intimidating the chiefs (selected one a piece from the inbound coaches), finally the fern is thrown down as a token of welcome to their village and we all proceed into the village. Once in we are invited to ask questions about their culture and lifestyle. Of course what everyone is actually waiting for is the Hangi. A feast of biblical proportions that is cooked under the ground in a traditional style. This made the pavlova all the more tasty (it must take some skill to cook this under the ground).
What followed in the Lava bar over the next couple of nights is probably not worth mentioning here, mostly because I can't quite remember. Still, Rotorua has lots to offer; speed boats, skydiving, mountain biking, luging, zorbing, wildlifing and just soaking up the scenery. The mountain biking on offer here is some of the best in the world. Myself and Richard a 19 year old Scout Leader from Sussex, took up the biking with relish. 3 hours in, on and around the saddle is about enough for those who haven't done much excercise. With all the ups and downs it is exhausting
A Maori Warrior?
Doing a dance, half haka and half jacko... to say the least. The most rewarding runs, unsurprisingly, are the ones where life is put at risk, where bones are one mistake from breaking, where excess speed will see you flying off the face of the planet. Nowhere is this more obvious than on one of the runs called the "tickler", halfway though there is a fork in the road, one path leads round the side and down the 5 meter hill. The other takes the more direct route, resulting in a path that is a couple of degrees off vertical.
We stopped at the fork in the road, instantly my self preservation kicked in, there was no way I was going down the quick way. Rich, on the other hand, spent some time seriously considering it, until a couple of bikers rode up behind us and informed us that the last person to take on the drop broke his pelvis, multiple ribs and suffered 3 cardiac arrests in the helicopter en route to the hospital. Armed with this information we gave the drop a wide berth and carried on our merry way through the forest.
After spending around 4 or 5 days in Rotorua it was
Insanonaughts
Ready to rock it down the mountain...on bikes! time to move on again. Boarding the big green bus that is the Kiwi Experience, packed now with about 30 people, we set out towards the Agrodome, home of the Sheep show boasting 19 different types of sheep and live sheering and cow milking. To give it its d'ewe, the show was very lively and entertaining, even when the cow didn't want to be milked. Definitely worth the 13 dollars entry fee.
Moving swiftly on we arrived in Waitomo in time to explore the caves that very afternoon. Waitomo is home to about 40 people, it is comprised of a hostel, a hotel, a bar and maybe a couple of houses. But it isn't for the overground geography that we stopped here for, no. For under Waitomo is a vast complex of caves and underground rivers. Various tours go subterranean, not one to shy away from dark places I signed myself onto a tubing trip of the caves. What this essentially comprised of was a wetsuit, a helmet with a light and an inflatable inner tube. Once fully equipped we spent about 3 hours floating down underground rivers, looking up at the glow worms on the ceiling and jumping
off waterfalls.
Such physically demanding exercise requires a suitable edible recompense. One must replace the calories burnt off after all. Such sustenance was provided down at the local bar. Curly's is the only bar in this half horse town and we dominated the establishment, demolishing a BBQ and drinking the bar. At this stage I must confess that the bar got the better of me. This needs to be explained better, Curly's boasts 1o different beers and 1 cider all on tap, there is a challenge called round the world where one must consume 1 pint of each beer plus the cider and a snakebite. Alas, after 9 beers the cider was my achilles heel, with closing time soon approaching I graciously gave in the towel and staggered back to our accommodation.
Well the weather has cleared up and in the immortal words of a beatle "here comes the sun," time for a walk I think.
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