Our Trip to Rotorua

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Welcome to our belated Rotorua blog. We’ve been pretty slack on the blog front since arriving in Auckland, which I’m sure some of you are pleased about!

So Rotorua is the adventure hub of the North Island and has a reputation for smelling like rotten eggs. I managed to book a few activities through work and so we headed off for an action packed few days. The first stop was at Agroventures where we went on a 40 metre high swing called Swoop, a ride on a Jet boat and flying in a wind tunnel called Freefall Xtreme.

I decided to do the Swing first as I thought there was less chance of Liv talking herself out of it. We were cocooned in these big sleeping bags and slowly raised towards the top of the crane. Half way up Liv started to freak out and was calling me all names under the sun, three quarters of the way up she went silent and I could just hear quite whimpers. When at the top I wanted to mess with Liv but thought better of it, pulled the cord and we came racing head first towards the ground and into the swing.

Next on the list was the jet boat. We were strapped in to a small boat with a 350bhp Chevy engine and no brakes. This thing was rapid! It accelerated to 100kmph in 4.5 seconds and pushes you right back in your seat. We raced 3 or four laps of their little course, which had lots of sharp corners and a couple of 360 spins. The ride was awesome, it was loud, quick and the driver chucked us around like rag dolls. It left me wanting more and a new mission, which is to drive one before I come home. The last activity was body surfing on air. Basically you jump over a big fan and try and fly for as long as possible. This was awesome and my favourite thing in the park. After 30 minutes in Agroventures we were done and headed off down the round for some Zorbing action.

We chose to do three Zorb runs. The first was called ZORBIT, which they say is their Astronaut training option. You are strapped in and rolled down a hill which looks like the set of Telly Tubbies. Towards the end of the hill my Zorb started bouncing and it was a weird sensation to fall face first into the ground without worrying. Our Second Zorb trip was called ZYDRO. This time Liv and I jumped in together with a few buckets of soapy water and was sent spinning and sliding down the hill. This was great fun and we giggled the whole way down. For the last ride we went down a slalom type hill again with water. It’s a cross between a rollercoaster and water slide and is great fun. I don’t know what it was with Zorbing but I laughed the whole way down the hill on all three rides and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Again we were done after 45 minutes or so, so in around 2 hours of being in Rotorua had finished all the trips I had arranged.

As we were driving to our hostel I saw signs for the Luge so we swung by and tried to blag a couple of rides with my magic letter. It worked a treat and got two complimentary rides on the Luge and Gondola. I was really excited about doing the Luge as, as silly as it sounds, since doing it in Singapore it has been one of the best things I’ve done this trip! For the first ride you had to do the beginners course, which I thought was pretty tame compared to Singapore. I let Liv go first and thought it would be fun to give her a little nudge and mess around with her a little. This wasn’t a good idea as she was too busy telling me to piss off and nearly forgot to turn for a corner. After that I left her be and raced off to the bottom. This is where I learned you do need to use the brakes and it’s not a good idea to take your leg out of the kart. Firstly your leg won’t stop you and secondly it will snap if it hits the outside of the track. Luckily the front of the kart hit the outside and my foot narrowly escaped. The second run was much better. It was a lot shorter but really steep and even had a couple of jumps. I loved it and still to this day the Luge is one of the best things I’ve done. I’d love to give it a go with the old man and a few mates although I fear it would end in tears or maybe an ambulance.

Up until this point we hadn’t experienced the smell of Rotorua but sure enough we weren’t far away. It made me laugh as shortly after we passed a sign for the city centre we got a waft. At first it wasn’t that bad but by the end of the trip I hated it. The sulphur got right up my nose! I’m sad to say, that after the Luge that was it for our first day of adrenaline in Rotorua. I’m sure you all would have expected a few more activities but we decided to sort out our hostel and go for a beer. We stayed the night at Cactus Jack’s. As the name suggests it is a novelty Western styled hostel, but novelty aside it was a shit hole so we headed off to the pub for some grub and a beer. It’s sad to say but I had totally acclimatised to my life in Auckland with a comfy bed and no knob heads playing their east coast west coast crap until 3am in the morning. Oh, the joys of being in a hostel or is that just me being a moany git? I don’t know.

We didn’t have anything planned for the next two days so I spent the morning in my Lonely Planet researching. Work had recommended a rafting company called Kiatiaki so we gave them a call and headed of with my magic letter. By 2 o’clock we were rafting along the Kiatuna River, which is home to the highest commercially rafted waterfall in the world. Me a Dutch dude and our guide were the only guys on the raft, which initially I was a bit disappointed about but off we went. Liv was a little worried about falling off the big waterfall and luckily we had a couple of smaller warm up waterfalls to hit first. We rafted those no worries and was the first raft to head of Tutea Fall, which is a 7 metre drop. We had to paddle like mad then get in the raft and hold on for dear life. You can hear the power of the waterfall approaching and it is very loud as you fall off it. We hit the water and I felt something smash into my helmet. I thought I was out of the boat and in a washing machine but held on and was surprised to come up still in the boat. I looked around and there was the guide and the Dutch guy, all three women had fallen off. I was a little concerned until I saw Liv in the water, when she turned around I really panicked. A small strand of hair had come out the side of her helmet, under her cheek bone, which looked like a nasty impact wound that was bleeding heavily. I thought it may have been her cheek that smashed into my helmet, luckily it wasn’t and it was just a piece of hair. The rafting was awesome and we had a great day. Liv really enjoyed it, which was good and I believe it was her favourite activity of the holiday.

We were both a little chilly after the rafting and fairly tired so we decided to chill out in at Waikite Thermal Valley. The complex was lovely, set in natural bush, they had 6 thermal pools sourced from the surrounding spring ranging from 35 - 40c. It was a lovely way to round off the day and chilled out in the thermal pools for a couple of hours. I was really impressed with the complex. As well as the baths they had walks, campsite, café and only charged $12 for the day. Also the water is drained every evening so the water stays fresh.

I couldn’t hack another night at Cactus Jack’s so we decided to give the YHA a go. It was a great decision as the hostel was brand new, had comfortable beds, no rap playing layabouts and awesome facilities - It’s the best hostel I’ve ever stayed in and it renewed my faith for future travels. We decided we would round off the trip in a relaxing fashion and do more of a touristy thing. We headed off to Hells Gate and walked around erupting geysers, steaming fumaroles, mud pools and hot geothermal springs. The walk took around an hour and then we headed off for a 20 minutes mud bath. The mud bath was a lot of fun and Liv caked her self in the mud, which apparently contains all kinds of enriched minerals and special qualities. By the end of the 20 minutes I was cooked and ready for a cold shower. We didn’t spend long in the spa as we were too hot and were bathed out.

Last on the list was a walk around Wai-O-Taupo Thermal Wonderland. We had seen a sign for this on our way home from rafting but the park had closed. The walk looked stunning on their boards so I wanted to give it ago. The reserve is an active volcano and was created by the last eruption. It was a nice walk through narrow paths and woodland. We saw huge volcanic craters, steaming streams, naturally coloured hot and cold pools and the champagne pools which was awesome. So, in quite a big nutshell that was our time in Rotorua. We had an action packed few days that started at a high pace and ended in a relaxing fashion. I enjoyed Rotorua but was glad to leave. I just couldn’t hack the smell.

New travels are fast approaching……………………..

Matt and Olivia.

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Photos

Swoop
Both shitting our pants

Swoop
The aftermath - smiles all round

Freefall Xtreme
Liv flying

Freefall Xtreme
Matt high as a kite

Zorbing
Looks like the set of Telly Tubbies

Dropping off Tutea Fall
White water rafting on Kiatuna River.

Celebrating surviving the fall
White water rafting on Kiatuna River.

Waikite Thermal Valley
The complex

Waikite Thermal Valley
Chillaxing in one of the spa pools

Hells Gate
Walking around the geysers, fumaroles, mud pools and geothermal springs

Wai-O-Taupo
Scenic shot

Wai-O-Taupo
Scenic shot