Rotorua

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06/06/09 Saturday Day 295
After checking out of the hostel at 10am, we stayed there for about 2 hours watching TV because our bus wasn’t until 12.30pm. About 15 minutes after getting the bus, we stopped for lunch as it was the same bus tour we got yesterday, Auckland to Rotorua via Waitomo Caves. The food stop was called The Big Apple café. And yes, there’s a huge big red apple at the front of it. After an hour there we headed off again. The next place we stopped was just for a toilet break. But nearly every sign in this place was made of corrugated iron. The information centre was a giant sheepdog shaped building made out of the iron. And beside it was a giant sheep shaped building, also made out of the iron. Amazing really.
Eventually we got to Rotorua. First of all, this place stinks, literally. The city is full of geothermal activity so there’s a load of sulphur in the air so the place either smells of rotten eggs or the inside of a slatted unit after agitating! Anywho we booked a Mauri culture show after getting off the bus at the information centre and headed for our hostel.
Our hostel, Blarneys Rock, is right in the middle of the city/town! It’s right beside Hennessey’s Irish bar too, always handy.
After a quick wander around the city, we got collected at 5.30pm for the tour. The Mauri show was amazing. First we got welcomed into the Mauri sacred house through Mauri tradition. Then there was a show of Mauri songs and dance. The women on the tour then went up on stage to learn one of their dance routines and a short time after the guys on the tour went up to learn the Haka, which was hilarious. After that we got a huge 3 course dinner, made with the Mauri tradition of using the steam of the geothermals from the earth. The dinner was amazing. We got for starter corn on the cob, smoked eel and garlic mussels. For the main course, we got chicken and stuffing, lamb, pork, potatoes, pumpkin and another local vegetable. For desert it was buffet style of ice-cream, chocolate profiteroles, fruit salad or pavalova.
After dinner we headed down into a valley beside the Mauri village to see 2 geysers exploding into the air. These were cool. They erupt every hour for about 20 minutes or so. We then got hot chocolate and sat on the warm rocks there too. By the time our guide had finished talking my arse was on fire from the hot rocks!! After all of the 3 hour amazing show, we headed back to the hostel/pub by their shuttle bus.
Hennessey’s was hopping. There was a 4 man band rattling off songs, including badly sung versions of U2 songs!! Still a good show while we were there for the 1 drink! We then headed to the Pig & Whistle. This place also had a live band, a lot better than the last place. This band sang the usual rock chart hits. There wasn’t a theme night there but there were quite a few guys wearing full cowboy rig outs, 10 gallon hats and over sized belts. Not sure what was going on there!!
After the Pig & Whistle we headed for the Pheasant Plucker. Yet another live band in here, slightly more jazzier. We were going to head next door to the Belgian Beer pub but it was closed so we called it a night.

07/06/09 Sunday Day 296
This morning we were being collected at the information centre at 9am to be taken to Hells Gate, a big geothermal area. It’s a 2 kilometre walk around the grounds where there were some huge bubbling hot lakes and mud pools. At the end of the walk around, we got to do some wood carvings in a Mauri design which was great. With our feeble attempt, it goes to show the great skill in the Mauri people creating the huge pieces. After a hot cuppa there, we got driven back into town.
We then headed to the Rotorua Museum. This place used to be a bath house back in the early nineties. There’s also a cinema there explaining about the place and a re-enactment of a huge volcano disaster in the late 1800’s. This was very cool because all of a sudden when the volcano started erupting, our seats started shaking and moving from side to side, totally unexpected. You can also go into the basement to see all the underground pipes that used to be there. There’s also a lookout in the top of the place. We went for a walk then along side Rotorua lake and back into town.
Tomorrow we head for Taupo where with a bit of luck we might be able to do a skydive. God help us!

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