What's that Smell? I swear, it wasn't me.

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Rotorua, Taupo, Tongariro National Park, and Wellington: The Fun Continues

Rotorua:

Back on the bus and off to Rotorua as we continued to meet new travelers that jumped on in Raglan or said goodbye to others who were remaining to further explore the area. As we approached Rotorua, I imagined this thermal town would smell like rotten eggs and contain few activities of any interest other then a some bubbling mud pits and geysers. As we got to the city, Golem drove us around the main downtown area. He mentioned the smell as a few others agreed with disgust, but to me it wasn’t as bad as I had imagined. Maybe from the 8 years in Colorado smelling cow and pig farms had some how desensitized me to these foul odors. Right as I started to think this wouldn’t be that bad, we pulled up to a thermal pit where hot steam was rising out of a fenced off hole. As we got out to take a few photos, the strength of the odor became quickly apparent and my olfactory opinion was quickly corrected.

One thing that I had heard about Rotorua was that this was the place to experience a traditional hangi, which was the way the native Maori's cooked their food underground. I had imagined with the Polynesian influence that it would be somewhat like a Hawaiian luau, but I still wanted to taste it for myself. So I quickly signed into my hostel, showered off the wetsuit smell from the caves, and jumped on the bus. I had also chosen one of the more popular Hangis, i.e. expensive, so unfortunately I was going alone. But as with all of my traveling, I quickly met people on the bus as well as found the bus driver to be very entertaining and talkative on our 15 minute drive out of the city.

As we arrived at the Tamaki village, we were number 3 of 5 buses that had unloaded. We lined up against a covered opening and waited for the welcoming dance that was traditional for these types of events. After a very intense show of fire, sword spins, and tongued facial gestures, we were invited in to see the replicated village and talk with the cast members about the life in old Aoteroea. After 30 minutes of nice informational demonstrations, we were led into the Wharenui, or meeting house, and entertained with music, dance, and more history. One thing that was definitely different from a luau was watching a Maori Haka, or traditional Maori dance. The one that is most famous is called the Ka Mate. The Ka Mate became famous to the Rugby world as the legendary National New Zealand Rugby team, the All Blacks, would chant it before every game to intimidate the other players. This chant was accompanied by fierce facial expressions, viscous hand gestures, and yelled by very large men with loud, deep voices and facial tattoos. If I was the other team, I would have given up before the game had started. The haka goes like this:

Ka mate, ka mate! Ka ora! ka ora!

Ka mate! Ka mate! Ka ora! Ka ora!

Tēnei te tangata pūhuruhuru

Nāna nei i tiki mai whakawhiti te rā

A upa ... ne! ka upa ... ne!

A upane kaupane whiti te ra!

Just as my stomach started to make noises, we were thanked for coming and led into the large dining hall, or Wharekai. This is where I started to realize how big this complex was. It was created and used specifically for this Hangi, no wonder it cost 70 dollars. I followed the crowd into the dining hall and sat down at a table with some backpackers from the Magic and Kiwi Experience buses. Outside, two large fires were burning in the background where our food had been cooked underground and now sat on a buffet table in the middle of the room. The bar was off to the side filled with local beer and wine. Hungry as I was, I couldn’t wait to get up there and sample some of this traditional Maori food. As our table was called, I noticed the food looked less and less like a typical luau. They had the underground pork, vegetables, oysters, fish, and salads. Then a few things surprised me, stuffing, salad, coleslaw, and a few other things I think were just there for the tourists.
Although all the food was excellent, I think I prefer a Hawaiian luau menu.

As we finished our conversations about our travels and our plates were empty, we were thanked again with a few songs from the employees and asked to thank the cooks and cleaning staff. We were then corralled into the bus area again and taken back to our hostels. During our ride back, our driver sang songs he knew from every country of the people on the bus. For America, he sang some Elvis and John Denver. We got to our hostel and I joined the others from the Stray bus having a few drinks at the connecting bar. The next day we were planning on doing a few fun activities that I wasn’t expecting to be based in Rotorua.

After a great nights sleep, 10 of us were driven over to a hill where the famous ZORB hill was setup. ZORB, which is the name of the company, was a large inflatable ball inside another inflatable ball. With one hole as an entry, up to 3 people can jump inside this large orifice with ankle high warm soapy water. You are then zipped up and sealed in, then pushed to the edge of a gentle slopping hill. As I sloshed around in this air filled hamster ball with Claire from England, I thought to myself, this is the greatest thing ever! With the soapy water, keeping us sloshing around like a water slide, Claire and I laughed for the entire 30 second experience. A few photos, some residual laughter, and we hurried to dry off and get changed back into our normal clothes. Off to our next exciting adventure, as we picked up a few other passengers and headed to the Tehokowhitu-A-Tu thermal village.

After paying $25 and entering the village, our guide explained the layout of the area and what was included in our ticket. Our tour guide showed us the Prince of Wales Feathers geysers, some mud pits, a thermal steam oven, a thermal heated bath, and finally the local church. The village, which is still inhabited by the native Maori tribe of the Whakarewarewa since 1863, was sadly becoming overcrowded as houses and land would become unusable when new thermal vents would open underneath. After a great show, some walking around and taking photos, we finished it up with samples of a traditional Maori meal of sausages, boiled corn in one of the thermal pools, and authentic steamed bread cake. After a few taps on the surrounding village statue heads for good luck, we were on our way to Taupo with a few detours in between.

With swimsuit already equipped, I was ready to try the hot water creek I had heard so much about. Kerosene Creek was a natural hot water creek that flowed down from some thermal volcanic activity. This small creek had a wonderful sandy bottom, scenic waterfall, and of course, a little rotten egg sulfur smell. But as I jumped in, the relaxing warm water and soft sand rushed any bad thoughts or smell away. I could have stayed in the creek for a few more hours, but unfortunately we were on a tight schedule. We dried off after a few photos and headed to our next stop.

This next thermal adventure, was a stop at a large bubbling mud pit pond. This large body of hot bubbling mud was definitely a sight to see. The smaller mudpits back at the thermal villages were nothing compared to this large gray mass of mud. Multiple bubble holes, splatters, and smells were coming from this amazing pool. After many photos, and some funny cheers when large gas explosions sent mud flying, we were back on the bus and headed off to Taupo.

Taupo:

Taupo is a small urban city with a population of around 22,000 people. In fact our hostel that we were staying at was called, Urban Retreat, and was definitely a nice place to stay. Taupo is located on the north-east corner of a very large lake, Lake Taupo. This is New Zealand’s largest lake by surface area at a size of 616 square kilometers, or around 382 square miles. We had a few choices of activities, one of them being skydiving. Even though none of us went, I did see a video from someone who did, and this would have been the place to do it. The scenery was amazing, especially when you’re falling from 15,000 feet at 120 mph.

With not much planned, we decided to all copy our photos for each other onto CD’s. We went shopping at the Warehouse, sort of like Walmart, and got some warmer clothes for tomorrows big hike. Finishing our errands off at the grocery store, we all agreed to do a dinner at the restaurant next door to the hostel. After a few drinks and food, we found out that it was actually Ollie’s birthday. We proceeded to buy him drinks and scold him for not telling us. Since we had to get up at 5:30AM, there was no time to party, so we postponed it until the following night. Tonight was also Claire’s last night, so we had our last drinks, and said our sad goodbyes but made sure to exchange information.

Tongariro National Park:

At 5:30AM in the morning, our bodies definitely felt like they didn’t work properly. We threw our bags into the stray bus, and headed off on a separate bus organized by the Tongariro Expeditions company. Almost a 2 hour drive, we finally arrived at the start of the hike just as the sun was coming up. Freezing, we quickly rented extra jackets, gloves, walking sticks, and hats. After a few “before” photos, we started the 7 hour, 18km hike across one of the most famous trails in the world. Through volcanic grounds, orange looking rock formations, and amazing mountain scenery, we hiked toward the first challenging climb called “The Devils Staircase.” This 45 minute climb up sharp volcanic rocks was the location to some filming from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. At the top of this climb, started another optional climb up "Mount Doom", or Mt. Ngauruhoe. After a very tiring climb, we fell to the ground at the top and replenished with some granola bars, water, and a few rewarding photos. Off again, we started up another gravel hill towards the peak of the Red Crater.

As I’ve never been a huge long distance hiker, I have to say I was impressed that at no point did I ever think this was too hard to complete. Although 18km is a long way, I kept reminding myself with every step up, was later going to be a step down. As we arrived at the top of the crater, the views of the surrounding land was amazing. At the top of the crater, I imagined this is what Mars must look like. Red and white dirt, mixed with tall rock formations, made for interesting cliffs to our right as thermal areas leaked steam out of the top peak. During later winter and snow seasons, the trek would have been filled with lots of snow, except for this peak as the thermal steam would melt it off. As we sat down on a few heated stones, we ate half of our lunch and took in the view. The sun was out, and our extra jackets and gloves were put away for the remainder of the hike. We quickly finished up and started walking towards some amazing looking lakes.

The first lakes were called the Emerald Lakes. These colorful green waters were mixed with the reddish-orange rocks surrounding its edges. A blueish, shallow water ridge lined the lake making for excellent photos of contrasting colors. The second lake was a much larger lake called the Blue Lake. I guess Kiwis don’t have very original names for their locations, but it really didn’t matter as again, this breathtaking water and surrounding area was far superior to any hike I’ve ever taken. As we continued past these lakes, we noticed a little fatigue but figured we were only half way there, so hopefully the rest was downhill. The remainder of the hike consisted of a few gravel hills, zig zagging paths down a field of grass, a quick stop at the Ketetehai hut looking over Lake Taupo, and a forest walk alongside a river with occasional waterfall. Just when we thought we were lost in the woods, we came out to a sign showing the path we had just taken from start to finish. Our 7 hour hike was finished and we had all made it in one piece. Celebratory “after” photos were taken and we sat down exhausted, waiting for our stray bus to arrive and take us to our nights accommodations.

Probably the best hostel on the entire trip, The Park, was a huge building loaded with amenities like a hot tub, rooms with comfortable beds, ensuite bathrooms, a large fireplace common area, a ping pong table, and a very large kitchen. But after the hike, the only thing I could think about was hot tub! After a little relaxation, we organized the nights celebrations. Of course we wanted to celebrate the completion of the hike, but we couldn’t forget about Ollie’s unspoken birthday. We headed over to a little hotel restaurant bar, ate a wonderful chicken kiev, and then had a “few” cocktails and shots. In the end, the celebration was a success and the only casualty was ripping my jeans from an exposed hook on a pool table.

With an unfriendly early morning, we jumped on our almost missed bus, and headed towards Wellington. Unfortunately, Ollie and Clodha were also leaving the group today and heading in other directions. We said our goodbyes as we watched military tanks and officers march by for today’s Anzac Day Parade. Later down the road, we stopped at the rushing site of Huka Falls. This amazing large volume of flowing water often approaches 220,000 liters per second. This was definitely one waterfall I didn't want to be under.

Wellington:

As we entered the capital of New Zealand, my thoughts weren’t too positive on what to expect as I was really starting to enjoy the small town feel of what we had seen since Auckland. We first headed up a narrow road to the top of a scenic hill looking out over Wellington and it’s harbor. Tomorrow we were scheduled to jump on a ferry and head to the south island. As we got checked into our hostel, Base, I quickly threw my stuff down so I could go run over and see the museum that I had read so much about. Te Papa is one of the most famous museums in New Zealand and always had special shows coming and going through the museum. Being a fairly new and large facility, I was happy to see the entry was free and quickly rushed in to see as much as possible before it closed. I saw some amazing video presentations, volcano exhibits, rocks, historical photos, and ancient artwork. The museum was well lit and very modern. I’d highly recommend it, but try to show up early too make sure you get to see everything.

As I walked around Wellington, I noticed a lot of fine dining restaurants and a few cool looking clubs. The downtown area was filled with places I’d have liked to see, but since it was getting late, I went back to eat dinner with Lucy. A new traveler had joined our group and this time she was American. Gardenia was a cheery girl from Washington who knew a lot about coffee, go figure. The next day was filled with a long ferry ride and some driving to an amazing location in Abel Tasman National Park. Little did I know, my luck was going to run out.

Up next: South Island (Abel Tasman, Barrytown, Franz Joseph, Makarura, and Queenstown)

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Photos

Zorbing
The act of rolling down a hill in an inflatable ball filled with water. I'd have done this all day it was so much fun!!!

Zorb Photo
My partner in Crime, Claire from England. We couldn't stop laughing the entire way down.

Princess Lucy
Lucy waits for her food with stylish patience.

Waiting for food
Instead of numbers for our food orders, we got purple hands, feet, halo's and other items so they could identify us.

Lucy and Ollie
It was Ollie's Birthday, but he still never smiled.

Ollie's cake
Yep, we even got him a slice of cake.

Wellington from above
A view from the lookout on top of the hill. Wellington actually looks pretty big.

The show
The show before the meal.

A haka
A haka, is a warlike chant that is very intimidating. Is also used by the New Zealand Rugby team before every match.

ZORB
Ahhh, what a great idea. Rolling down a hill in an inflatable ball.

Steam cooking
The Maori cook their food in these thermal vents, steaming their food.

Hot Water Pool
Here is where they boil their corn. This water was steaming hot, so I wasn't about to take a dip.

Comments

[Mike (Crusher)]

WEeeeeeEEW
Another great adventure! Loved the Zorb balls and that sure sounds like fun. It is impressive the amount of hiking you do and the trip up Mt. Doom must have been fun for you. Great scenery, gorgeous emerald lakes, watefalls....damn. As always- love your stories and pics!