New Zealand Part 11 - Rotorua

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Freedom camping more sulphur and near death experiences!!

We have already been to Rotorua, briefly on a day trip with Ben and Heather and then again when we had our hire car whilst staying in Taronga with Ben and Heather. We had done the thermal wonderland and the Maori cultural evening but as pointed out to us by one of our avid blog readers (Russell Abraham) we hadn’t done some of the main attractions that Rotorua is famous for, namely Zorbing and the gondolas. So as we take all of our readers comments seriously and endeavour to fulfil any requests we headed back to Rotorua.

Leaving Tongariro the weather had really turned bad so we were glad to have completed the walk the day before. Our feet however had still not forgiven us and were aching along with most other parts (and no that was not due to the “early nights”, get your minds out of the gutter!) so the long drive to Taupo and Rotorua was a needed one so we could rest our feet for a while. Elton had been very well behaved since we had collected him from the horrid car people in New Plymouth, and although there were little bits that still needed tweaking (I think Nath is enjoying fixing him and making sure everything is as we want). As with our previous tour in his dad’s camper last summer we had taken on our usual roles, of driver and fixer of things (Nath) and cook, and navigator (me) which worked quite well as I had no idea about vans and Nath had no real idea of where we were or where we were headed most of the time.

After a quick lunch stop in Taupo (we arrived the one day some huge boat race was going on so parking was a nightmare), I jumped out to get us a quick Subway as that is about as close to healthy eating as we get these days!! We were off again. We smelt the outskirts of Rotorua before we actually arrived there, and remembered how much it had made us feel ill before ( I guess though you could see it as a good thing if you have no dog to blame your farts on). Unfortunately you do get used to the smell so find yourself panicking that your bowels have just prolapsed or something when you get a sudden whiff of it again when the wind changes!! Luckily both our bowels were still in place and we soon got used to remembering what the fowl smell was. I was glad I had booked us into a camp site down wind of all the smell, a funny old 1950’s looking place with caravans that I’m sure had been there since the 50’s!!!. As we’d got there in the afternoon and the weather was a bit poor we had a day of chilaxing and sorting out internet stuff (as this was one of the first camp sites we had come across with wireless internet - still bloody charged for it tho). I did my usual figuring out what our plans were and went about booking us in for a white water rafting trip for the next day and Nath pottered around tweaking things inside the van. I’d asked given the rain if the rafting was likely to be cancelled but they said that unless it rained for the rest of the day and night it was unlikely. So you can guess what happened….it did indeed rain all afternoon and all night. At one point that evening Noah stopped by for a cup of tea before loading a few more of his animals onto the boat, so we weren’t surprised to get an early morning phone call to say that the rafting was cancelled - doh!!

So with the rest of the day free to get stuff done, we headed out to the Zorbing centre as this had been a recommendation by Russell. We ummed and ahhed for a while, looking at the pricey cost of doing it and wondering if it was worth it, but soon decided that we would go for it. The cheapest option was to buy three rides, one dry (traditional strapped in spinning round and round) and two wet Zorbs (free to roll around, with water added in, bit like being a sock in a washing machine), so that I could have a go on the wet ride (the dry was too much spinning for me) and Nath could take the others. Now before you pay you fill in an on screen disclaimer about your health. I gave it some thought, when asked if I had any muscle/bone injuries etc but decided that I’d admit my neck pain issues and they would probably just say don’t worry about it. After all their paper work said they wouldn’t take any liability anyway so why we were filling them in I don’t know?? Anyway when we went to the desk and the lady asked about my issue, I said something which I guess sounded much scarier than what I have but much easier to explain. I said I had “fused vertebrae” at the top f my neck, which isn’t quite true but is much easer than going on about what it actually is. Anyway when the colour had come back to her face she told me that for my own safety I wouldn’t be allowed on the zorb - god dam it!!! I was so upset I wished I hadn’t said anything, so unless we find somewhere in the south island this may be something I’ll have to try and do back home now. Anyway as we were about to pay for Nath to have a go, the wind had picked up and the dry zorb was being cancelled (apparently they bounce to much in the wind or something), so rather than being pushed into doing three wet zorbs, as the lady was trying to encourage, we decided to come back another day.

With the weather being a bit shit the other idea of going on the gondola was out as well so we weren’t having much luck. I really needed to know a time scale for the rest of the north island so I could book us on the ferry over to the south, so after checking the weather and guessing what activities we could do each day we figured we’d just spend the rest of this failed day in town. So in we went……..

As we turned at a busy traffic light controlled junction into town the van made a strange noise and well broke….again…..we managed to roll it into a side street and Nath looked blank (which worried me coz normally he knows what the issue is). We called the AA breakdown (good thing we had joined) and they were out to us very quickly. So I was still quite hopeful it could be fixed quickly, even if it was gonna cost a bit more money. No such luck, the problem was identified very quickly on the arrival of the AA - No compression possible due to a slipped or broken cam belt but better still Elton had chosen to give up on a bank holiday aughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

The AA guy towed us to their work shop on the main industrial estate road in town and said we would have to wait till tomorrow morning. He called his colleagues to tell them the dreaded news for us that evening…yes you guessed it, freedom camping on the garage forecourt. I couldn’t believe it, the day had been complete thrown again, the weather was shit, the air smelt of shit, camping on a noise garage forecourt looked shit and tomorrow we were gonna have to potentially pay out to fix Elton again.

So picking ourselves up off the pavement and trying to see the silver lining, we would at least have music all night, as the AA centre was behind a BP fuel station which played music and was open 24/7!!! At least the Mac Donald’s next to the BP station meant we could have a sausage & egg mc muffin for breakfast!! I had a quick look at what we could still do and decided on a nice relaxing dip in one of the many thermal baths. We hadn’t planned to do this as we’d done it before and in Rotorua it was bound to be dearer but hey we had nothing else to do. So we walked into town (which took about an hour) and had a relaxing evening at the lovely but pricey Polynesian Spa!!

It was so nice, like 8 different baths outside, all steaming with a look out onto lake Rotorua, so the smell and bubbles hid anything incriminating (I mean farts people!!). I felt a bit like Goldie locks trying all the baths till I found one that didn’t make my skin fall off. It was nice and relaxing and just what we needed. We’d arrived before the rush which was great but this didn’t last long, as most of China pulled up on coaches and emptied into the pools. We honestly felt like we had missed out a huge chunk of our trip and were now somewhere in Beijing. No problem except as with most other nations we have met so far, people talk really really loud!!! In the end Nath and I decided to sign to each other across the pool, which gained us a few admirers/nosey people. We were only playing eye spy but it was good fun, and actually shut a few people up as they watched. At one point the heavens opened up (again) and we were rained on whilst in the hot pools, which was needed as the heat was beginning to get to us. It was so weird to be outside in the rain but in a warm bath, not quite as amazing as Iceland but remindined me of…yup you guessed it…centre parcs (I love centre parcs).

Starving hungry and aged by about 30 years, we dragged out wrinkly bodies back to the van. We had made the most of using the shower facilities at the spa as we knew we wouldn’t be showering the next day unless the BP garage had one!! We wandered back through the thermal grounds Heather and Ben had taken us to previously. I did my usual follow me I think I’ve found a short cut and ended up not only taking the long way round but also covering my shoes in thermal mud!! Nice. On the way back we were chatting about what could be wrong with the van and how rubbish our return visit to Rotorua had been so far, but hey at least things would be looking up from tomorrow onwards……in that moment of reflection I was then shat on from above by some big stealth bird that I didn’t even hear go by..Why oh why, could this day get any worse?

That evening I reorganised the white water rafting for the next day whilst the van was being fixed, so not to waste more time. Luckily the guys were very understanding and said they would come and collect us to. As we were getting ready for bed, one of the AA guys was still in the office working (On a bank holiday Monday at 10 o’clock in the evening - stupid man) and he allowed us to use their bathroom to wash up and also have a free plastic coffee from the customer machine (yummy). Well we managed to sleep through the neon lights and constant re fuelling that went on throughout the night, even the petrol tanker that arrived early that morning didn’t wake us, so thankful for the small things, we were up and ready by 8am for the AA guys to start work straight away. After a quick MacDonald’s breakfast we were collected by Sam, the whirlwind of enthusiasm from the rafting company that was as kiwi as you’ll ever meet. He was hilarious and confident but also really chatty and friendly. We were driving round the town centre to pick up other rafters and as we pulled up at one hostel he asked a clearly labelled Chinese bus driver if he was waiting to go rafting (the guy was very confused) and then continued to get himself into a ladies photo at our next pick up. I’m quite surprised we arrived at all really, talk about a speed demon.

At the rafting centre with our gear on (I decided to wear a wet suit) we were all loaded up and taken to the rafting set out point. Now we had seen this happening on our first trip to Rotorua and watched the poor souls as they plunged down the 7m waterfall, but had decided we wouldn’t give it too much thought and just go with it. Needless to say most of my MacDonald’s breakfast was still in my bag as I hadn’t had the stomach for it that morning. The guys carried the two rafts to the rivers edge and us girls had the paddles, and after a quick Maori blessing of the river we were grouped together (one raft of 7 Americans and one of 6 mixed) and we were off. Now on the trip as you’re going along your then given the safety instruction (just hold on tight) and told how to paddle and raft over the waterfalls. There were several rapids and 4 main waterfalls to cross with the massive one being second, so I was nervous but pleased to get it out of the way. We had been told that three things could happen, either 1 we would go over and get through it no problem, 2 the raft could turn over with you ending up outside or inside the raft with your head in the air pocket or 3 the elevator, where the raft sort of stands on its nose and goes up and down a few times before coming out of the water fall.

Over the first 3 m water fall, we were exhilarated and not too wet, this was gonna be exciting. We were all still a little quiet and the guy was trying to get us all heated up with Maori chants etc…didn’t work!! Now when you go down the waterfalls you literally have to paddle till the last minute, you then get the command to “get down” and you have a matter of seconds to wedge yourself in-between the raft seats and kiss your ass good bye. Needless to say as we approached the large one, I stopped paddling way before everyone else and prepared my ass in time. I’m glad I did as I’m sure we only had a second before we went over!! It was AMAZING, I felt like I could do it again. I only wished I’d kept my eyes open to see us fall. But I certainly felt it; we went straight under and luckily popped out the other side without any problems! After some celebratory shouting, we all livened up a bit and continued on. The rest of the trip was going over rapids and another couple of little waterfalls. At one point the guide suggested we get out for a quick swim, as the water was actually really warm for a river (it was as well a good 22 degrees) so we all jumped out but stayed close to the boat as we all floated around the next corner. Then disaster struck, the guide said hurry up back to the boat as were about to go over another falls. I suddenly realised that Nath and I were furthest away from the raft and as quick as I could swim we weren’t getting very close to it. Luckily we grabbed onto the outer rope in time for it to go over the falls. Nearly drowned by water but still holding on, the guide hurriedly helped us back into the boat (as there was another falls coming up ) “just pull yourself in2 he said, yeah right, I was as weak as a kitten at this point, so he needed to drag me in by my life jacket. With all this going on I was aware that I couldn’t see Nath, the boat sides were too big to look over to check he was there. Turns out he wasn’t there. He had grabbed the back end of the raft (well front end really as the raft went over the falls backwards) in his rush back and had been forced under the raft as we went over the falls. He had tried to come up for air but every time he did he hit his head on the underside of the raft and couldn’t get out from under it. Luckily the German guy in the front with Nath had seen he was missing and reached under the boat and dragged him out. A very shaky Nath, less one booty (the force of the water had ripped the other one off!!) then spent the rest of the journey in shock but as that was the last fall to go over we were soon back on dry land.

Wow sorry to write so much but that was a cool trip!! And minus Nath nearly dying we’d do it again, soo much fun. Maybe not if we’d tipped over, but we didn’t so hey I’m gonna remember it as the most adrenalin rushed trip I’ve ever done, which for anyone who knows how much I hate theme parks, is quite an accomplishment!! Not content with nearly drowning, we then decided we would go for the Zorbing again once we had collected the van. We got dropped back off at MacDonald, think people must have thought we were some fast food freaks, and found the van ready to go. Turns out in a nut shell, the guy at New Plymouth had put the engine back together in a shoddy way and caused the cam belt to slip and also left a load of nuts and bolts loose, so they had had to fit a new cam belt. Poor Elton must have felt rubbish!! So with another $500 spent we were furious and determined to find out about tribunals again. Not letting it ruin our day though as we were still buzzing, we went off to the Zorb centre and I watched Nath have his three goes and on the last nearly flatten the crowd (very funny video, listen to them scream!!).

We then checked back in to the same holiday park from before and formed our plan for the next few days and took some time to really think about what had happened that morning and how close Nath had come to not coming home!!! (Not to worry you or anything). It was s beautiful afternoon so we got boring things done like washing clothes (that was needed after the rafting!!!) and had a nice quite adrenaline free evening.

Next morning it was lovely weather for once so we spent a good proportion of the day up the Rotorua gondolas. We had gone first thing (as we had dropped Elton back at the AA just for some tune up work they recommended, again something that should have been done before) so it was lovely and quiet and had a breakfast of pancakes and French toast in the morning sun with a stunning view over lake Rotorua, which was very nice indeed. So with breakfast over it was time for another adrenalin rush with a luge down the hill side and a chair lift ride back up. Ok I know it’s not on the same scale as white water rafting but I found the chair lift to be very scary, the luge however was great fun! I got 3 goes on the luge with my ticket and Nath had two luge runs and a giant sky swing ride, no way was I doing the swing!

With most of Rotorua now covered and still buzzing from the rides, we headed off towards Napier and our first “proper” freedom camp ………..

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Photos

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Elton looking sorry for himself

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Its just like centre parcs but smellier

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One for you Russell (didn't make it for roast dinner though)

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Pukeko

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As if the day couldn't get any worse!!

Comments

[Russ]

Woo Hoo
You got to go down the wiggly track at the side. It was shut the day we went. Stop writing so fast I can't keep up with it all. Sounds like you are having a blast. Keep up the good work

[Mandy Nath]

Zorbing
The first time we went the dry zorb was closed due to high winds but the second time it was all systems go. Have you seen the video of my second run down the zig-zag course, I dont know if you can hear the kids scream on the video but they did!!! We are trying to get up to date with the blogs so there may be a few in quick succesion over the next few weeks, sorry. Nath