Blogs from Rotorua, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 85

Zorbing is a bit like throwing yourself into an oversized hamster ball and being pushed down a hill (cheers for your words Pauly Boy). The Zorb itself is made out of lilo material and has a sphere of space inside, big enough for even a Tommy sized person to stand up in and up to two more people. They can even chuck some water in there, warm water if you ask nicely. You enter the Zorb through a 1/2 m diameter sized hole which is zipped up before you are pushed from the top of a 50m long embankment which follows either a straight or zig zag course. Tom and I chose a double, wet zorb on the straight run as we knew we would gather more pace. Now a professional Zorbanaut (not my noun, their's) ... read more

We could smell the city of Rotorua before we got there and knew we were in the right spot...it stinks of rotten eggs from the sulphur. Its on fault plate so full of volcanic acitivity. We visited the thermal pools, boiling mud pools and steaming geysers. We went on a Maori cultural experince which was class: we ate their 'hangi' dinner which was cooked over the hot ground, saw a concert and did a bushwalk with a local Maori family. Being the adventure capital of the world we did a 'Swoop', which is a 43m flying bungy...yikes! After Rotorua we headed for Taupo. Ian spent the day "fishing" in the river and insisted it was due to bad local information that he caught nothing..not even a bite!! While Aoileann spent the day in the mineral thermal ... read more

We nearly didn't make the bus to Tauranga, as there was a truck crash which blocked the road in the Coromandel and alternative routes are not thick on the ground - a quick trip over the mountain on a gravel road, a phone call to delay our connection and the day was saved! Would the same have happened with National Express? Tauranga was big and bustling, after life on the Coromandel. We found ourselves in the heart of the action in a backpackers on The Strand - a great view from the third floor balcony of the harbour and the proceedings on the street below. We ventured over the causeway and climbed Mount Maunganui - the must do around Tauranga. Rotorua was as smelly as ever, in a nice sort of way. You can take as ... read more

Saturday: A crazy adrenaline day spent with Rebeccah and Tomos, Tavis came with but lack of funds meant he watched most of it. The day started with White water sledging (www.sledge-it.com) down rapids head first on a body board type thing. It was good fun but was over quite quickly even though it was an hour. The best bit was surfing on the back current after a rapid. At the rafting we met up with Daniel who joined us for the rest of the day. We then went on a speed boat around a 1km track (www.agrojet.co.nz) which was better than expected. Next was the Swoop (www.swoop.co.nz) where 2 at a time we were laid in sleeping bag type harness and hoisted up to 40mtres before being dropped to swing at 130km/h back and forth. That ... read more

Friday: Not a fan of camping- spent from 6 till 9 in the morning asleep in the car with the heating on as it was so cold. Went on a beautiful boat trip up the coast looking in the caves and blowholes. We saw a seal as well amazing volcanic rock formations. Made me think of Rebecca Baker- as a geologist she's d really enjoy it. In the afternoon we walked an hour to reach Cathedral Cove which is 2 beaches divided by a rock arch. Tavis went into the water but it was too cold for me. Later we drove down to Rotorua and Tomos and Rebeccah arrived later that evening. ... read more