Advertisement
Published: November 23rd 2009
Edit Blog Post
SKLR911172004158
Luge - I lost 3 times to Russ - boo :-( Hello all
We arrived in Rotorua on Monday by plane from Wellington Airport. The plane we were on had a maximum capacity of 50 seats, it was tiny so we felt every bump!
Rotorua is one of the world’s most concentrated geothermal areas, with geysers, areas of bubbling mud and old volcanoes. However due to this it is very smelly, due to the Hydrogen Sulphide rising up from the area’s thin crust! The smell is like rotten eggs, but it is weird you can smell it really bad at first but then get used to it! It means that I can fart in front of Anne and she is none the wiser, hee hee!!
We arrived about 4.30 on Monday, so just picked up our hire car, found the hotel then went for an India! They go mad for butter chicken here, it is a very mild, creamy buttery tomato sauce, I tried it last night, but wasn’t convinced. Give me Chicken Vindaloo any day!
On Tuesday we got up about mid morning and headed a couple of miles out of town to go Zorbing! Anne superman dove into the centre of a huge clear plastic ball
and was rolled down a 200m high hill. She was strapped in, so kept going upside down! I was too scared. I could hear her laughing all the way down the hill!
We then went to the Skyline Rides, which involved a cable car ride up a hill then some luge riding. Luge is like box car racing, the tracks are all downhill, all you have is a steering bars and brakes, it is like a plastic go kart with no engine. They can go pretty fast, there was a scenic track, intermediate and advanced. The advanced one was awesome, I managed to get air twice! As my head is so big, my helmet hardly fit, it was like a pea on a mountain, and Anne’s was falling off her tiny bonse!
At night we booked a traditional Maori night which involved some traditional food, dancing, song, chants and weapons. The food was cooked in Maori earth ovens, the whole night was excellent, and after dinner we got given torches and went looking for glow-worms - sweet! It is definitely a must.
The next day we went to Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland to see Lady Knox Geyser, mud
Rotorua 014
Waiting nervously for my turn on the Zorb! pools and boiling water pools. It was pouring from the heavens so we managed to get a front row seat to the Geyser show. A staff member pours soap flakes into the vent and the geyser releases a jet approx 10m high! We then went on an hour long walk round the thermal wonderland, and took in some excellent craters and pools. You do wonder if being around all that sulphur has any impact on our tiny brains but I guess it must be safe!
After that we headed to the buried village. There we found the remains of a settlement called Te Wairoa. A volcano erupted in 1886 and tonnes of ash buried this village, only recently the remains were dug up. It was very interesting and told how many things were destroyed by the volcano, such as the Pink and White Terraces.
The next day we left Rotorua and headed to see Family Dominick in Whakatane. For a wedding gift, the Dom’s had booked us into Hell’s Gate for bubbling mud bath, hot sulphur spa and a walk around Hell’s Gate thermal area. We did this on the way to Whakatane, it was awesome, it was
so relaxing and a made us feel ten years younger!
It was excellent seeing the Arthur, Fiona and Arran again. We arrived on the Thursday and stayed till the Monday. We got to meet some of their NZ friends who were all very nice, see all the sights that Whakatane has and eat and drink them out of house and home! It’s a lovely place and the weather perked up, it was so hot so I guess summer has arrived in NZ. It was really sad leaving them, contemplated sneaking Arran into our suitcases but Fee would def have noticed. We had a total blast and will def be up for coming back in the near future.
Today we left the Dom’s and drove 4 hours to a hotel near Auckland; we are heading to Fiji tomorrow. Less than 3 weeks left, boooooooo!
Hope all is well at home. Lots of love Anne and Russ xxxxx
Advertisement
Tot: 0.076s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 13; qc: 27; dbt: 0.0331s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb
Mrs White
non-member comment
Pea on a mountain! ha! guess Louse and John Mc shouldn't try it either! HEID!