Travel Location: Rotorua,New-Zealand

6. Woche_____05. – 11. Februar 2009

Am Freitag wollte ich dann eigentlich einen Fallschirmsprung machen, es war aber den ganzen Tag so bewoelkt, dass alle Spruenge gestrichen wurden. Ich habe dann gar nichts gemacht habe. Chris hat mir dann nochmal ein Tattoo verpasst. Hatten ja sonst nix zu tun. Abends bin ich dann mit meinen Kathmandu Kollegen zu ‘Corn Evil’ gefahren. das ist ein Mais-Labyrinth, wo man aber im Dunklen durchgeht und von Horrorgestalten, wie “Freddy Krueger” oder “Chucky, die Moerderpuppe” erschreckt wird. War sehr lustig. habe mich nur einmal erschreckt, gucke wohl zu viele Horrorfilme.

Am Samstag morgen um 10 h wurde es dann ernst. Ich bin der ganzen Familie hin. Ich wurde recht schnell fertig gemacht und dann ging es auch schon ins Flugzeug. Zwei weitere sind mitgesprungen. Es war ziemlich eng. Alle sassen auf dem Boden und auf meinen Fuessen sass auch schon der naechste. War nicht viel mit schoener Aussicht, viel konnte ich nicht sehen, die Fenster waren recht hoch und ich sass fast ganz vorne. Die anderen beiden sind bei 9000 fuss schon raus. Ich bei 12000 fuss, das sind 4000 m. Eric hat mich kurz vorher an sich geschnallt und dann musste ich auch schon zur Tuer robben. Ein Kameramann hat mich begleitet. Ich konnte kaum ueberlegen, ob ich wirklich springen will oder nicht. Eric ist einfach gesprungen. Viele sagen, dass sie Probleme mit dem Atmen haben in der ersten Zeit, hatte ich ueberhaupt nicht. Das schlimmste war nur die erste Sekunde, wenn man springt, ab dann ist es nur geil. Nach 45 Sekunden freier Fall wurde die Reissleine gezogen ich konnte die Landschaft geniessen. war ein super Erlebnis. Es war toll, geil, super, grandios, unbeschreiblich, unglaublich usw.. Wuerde ich gerne nochmal machen, ist leider ein sehr kostenspieliger Spass.

Nach dem Sprung sind wir gleich weiter an den Strand, etwa eine Stunde enfernt nach Papamoa an der Ostkueste. Beim deutschen!!! Schlachter haben wir dann richtigen Aufschnitt und Wuerstchen gekauft. Juhu

Am Sonntag bin ich nochmal raften gewesen, das gleiche, was ich vor etwa 6 Monaten hier gemacht habe. War wieder klasse.

Montag wollte ich eigentlich losfahren, aber wir ihr seht, hatte ich noch so viel mit Schreiben aufzuholen und auch anderen Sachen, dass ich immernoch hier bin.

Mal sehen, wann ich dann wirklich abfahre.

So, nun ist Freitag, der 13. und ich habe beschlossen morgen vor mittag Richtung Osten aufzubrechen. In den letzten Tagen hat es geschuettet wie aus Eimern, das ich noch etwas hier geblieben bin.

——– E N G L I S H ———

6th week_____5 – 11 February 2009

On friday I was meant to do a skydivv but it was too cloudy that is was canceled. Chris made me another tattoo instead. We did not had much to do. At night I went with my collegues from Kathamndu to ‘Corn Evil’ in Edgecombe. It is a corn maze but where you go at night and people in horror masks try to scare you. It was really funny. I was only once a little bit scared. There was a white woman who stand suddelny in front of me in the beginning. I probably watch to many horror movies.

I had my skydive on saturday at 10 am. Sarah and her family came with me. It did not take long and I was ready. Two others jumped as well. It was quite small in the plane. I sat close to the front and the next person sat right on my feet.

was not a good view either, could not see much. The window were to high. The others jumped only from 9,000 ft, I did if from 12,000 ft (3678 m). I could not think much. Eric my intructor pushed me very fast out of the plane. The first second and while you are in the plane that is the worst. After that it is just cool, awesome, terrific, fantastic, incredible, great, undiscribable, and so on. I had a cameraman with me you made a movie.

Many people say they have problems to breath in the beginning. I did not had any troubles at all.

There was a 45 sec freefall after that Eric pulled the line and I could relax and enjoy the view. I would love to do it again it is just not the cheapest thing to have some fun.

After the jump we went to the beach. About an hour drive and we were at Papamoa on the east coast. First we shopped at the german!!! butcher to get some really nice meat. Not the shit you get here.

On sunday I went rafting again like I did in July. Was again great fun. It is always a bit different with other guides.

I wanted to leave Rotorua on monday. Did not work out. Too much to organise and pack and too much to write my blog (how you can see).

Will see when I will leave definetely.

Today is Friday 13th and I decided to leave tomorrow. In the last days it rained like cats and dogs so I stayed a little bit longer. The weather is nicer at the moment and I will drive first to the east and will see how far I will come.

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Travel Location: Rotorua,New-Zealand

Hello from New Zealand……. not Fiji where we thought we’d be. This is due to Fiji selfishly being hit by Tropical Storms and suffering flooding along with power and communication blackouts. This added to the Fiji government declaring a ‘state of natural disaster’ we decided not to go – probably for the best! As a result we are in New Zealand now for 9 weeks instead of 7.

After a few days in Auckland planning what to do for the extra 2 weeks we decided to head to Rotorua which is an active geothermal area with natural hot springs, geysers, mud pools and volcanic landscape and is known as the ‘Geothermal Wonderland of New Zealand’. So all was good and as Geographers we were much looking forward to our stay here…… however there is one major problem with the geothermal and volcanic delights – IT STINKS!! The copious amounts of sulphur being pumped out of the ground means that the area smells of rotten eggs and has led to the area having the nickname of ‘Rotten Rotorua’ which is well deserved in our opinion!

Rotten Rotorua

After trying and failing to acclimatise to the smell we decided to brave it anyway and went for a walk around Sulphur Bay at the southern edge of Lake Rotorua. The volcanic landscape is incredible and it felt like we were on a different planet with steam coming out of the ground, bubbling mud and boiling pools of water. The vegetation around vents was bleached white or coloured black from the heat and sulphur. After walking around the lake we headed to Kuirau Park which has more geothermal areas in the city centre with huge amounts of steam coming off the pools of water and more bubbling mud and water. The stench in the park was vile though and we wondered how the locals could live with it, we assume that they would just get used to it.

On Friday we caught the local bus to the Skyline Gondola which took us up the hills for amazing views of the lake and photo opportunities. The Skyline also had 3 luge tracks for people to go on of varying difficulties of Scenic, Intermediate and Advanced. The luge was really good fun and they were surprisingly stable which meant we were able to fly down the tracks at a good speed. Teresa also decided to be brave at the luge and really enjoyed it - even catching some air going over a bump on the advanced track!

In the evening we went to a Free BBQ at the Lava Bar which was a deck party for backpackers in Rotorua which promoted the activities in the area which had a FREE BAR!! So our plan of just buying a few drinks to watch the budget went out the window as it would have been rude not to get drunk for free!

On Saturday we were up early (Teresa slightly hungover) and went to ‘Te Puia’ which is a geothermal area that also had a traditional Maori village where we were able to see traditional arts and crafts being carried out such as weaving with Flax (a local plant), carving and traditional dances such as the ‘female Poi dance’ and the ‘Haka’. We were then taken on a tour of the area and saw some more bubbling mud pools and the Pohutu Geyser which ‘erupts’ about 2 times an hour shooting water up to 15ft into the air which was really impressive. While at Te Puia we also saw a real life Kiwi (bird) which was good although it was a lot bigger than we thought.

In the evening we had booked an ‘Indigenous Cultural Experience’ at the Mitai Maori Village just outside of Rotorua. Here we experienced the arrival of ’Maori warriors’ in a Waka (warrior canoe) before watching a cultural display where we were shown more traditional dances along with displays of how to use traditional Maori weapons followed by a very energetic rendition of Haka which was impressive. After the show we enjoyed a traditional Hangi Feast which was of lamb, chicken, potato, Kumara (sweet potato) that was cooked in the ground for 3 hours. There was loads of food and we piled our plates high to make the most of it.

After the feast we were taken on a night time bush walk around the village to see the bubbling crystal clear spring and also the glow worms in the trees which gave off a cool blue glow until some dozy latinos decided to take a picture of the glow worms with a flash and proceeded to shine their torches on them to get a better view (we were told by the guide that glow worms don’t glow when lights are shone on them!). The whole evening was really good though and the meal was worth the price on its own (NZ$75 for the evening including transport).

We head to Waitomo Caves next where Teresas new found bravery (and apparently cured claustrophobia) has led to us booking a trip where we will be abseiling, caving, blackwater rafting and climbing.

Until next time,

Barney & Teresa x

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We landed at Wellington but didn’t stop to see the city (we knew we”d get local guides over christmas to show us the highlights) so got straight onto state highway one which (shock horror! and great delight!) had 3 lanes!! This was unheard of in the south island so we gleefully concluded that it would take us a lot less time to get to taupo than we’d thought. Oh how wrong we were….. SH1 is 3 lanes for…. oooh, about 3 miles and then, despite being THE main artery road to and from the nations capital, it dwindles to a solitary lane which winds itrs way through many a one horse town with 50km/hr speed limits! We were somewhat disappointed by the north island at first sight- there were none of the sweeping vistas afforded by the south island and it all looked a bit bland and dreary. our misconceptions were further compounded when we stopped for fuel in a little town. Rosie got out to pump the gas and not one, but two young chaps came out to ask her if she needed any help! (one of them sadly only had one arm so not sure what help he could have given us!!) When we went in to pay and lingered at the chocolate aisle we were once again asked if we needed help! (with what?? mars or crunchie- hardly a decision requiring three brains!!) We noticed that there appeared to be about 12 people working in the patrol station and we were the only customers! We revved up cynthia and got away quick sharp before we got eaten alive by the strange folk!

We drove for what seemed like miles (and it was!) through fairly non descript countryside before reaching the cute art deco town of Napier. I had wanted to stop and see it as I’d seen loads of pictures in guide books of its amazing art deco buildings and structures. It was a lovely little town and the art deco was pretty good but, after a coffee (or a double expresso and an energy drink for me!) we decided to press on to Taupo.

We arrived thjere just as the light was dying but were still able to see how impressive lake Taupo was- its absolutely HUGE! To give an indication of scale, it’s the same size as Singapore and the whole town thrives around it as it is a major tourist draw. We checked into a really nice motel and i decided that, after driving for 6 hours straight, if i didn’t get a drink I might die, so we headed out to town. It was pretty quiet but we still managed to find ourselves some locals to drink, play pool and generally raise hell with! It was a fun night and a nice change from staying in the middle of nowhere on the south island (not complaining about that but god it was nice to go to a bar!!)

The following day we were nursing sore heads so decided to head to the thermal pools which are heated by all the volcanic activity in the area. We payed for the “private pools” which i would highly recommed to anyone (especially couples if you know what I mean- nudge nudge wink wink!) We had our own little cabin with a hot pool in it and it was sooooo relaxing! We also chilled out in the main pools as they had jacuzzis and massaging jets and, by midday it was as if I’d never had a hangover at all! (may bottle it and sell it as a cure!) We left taupo with big chilled out smiles on our faces, stopping en route to take in the Huka Falls which are an extrmely powrful and raging waterfall. It started to rain again so we headed (for some completely unimaginable reason- can I blame the lack of sleep/hangover?) for a local attraction called “The Prawn Farm” which we’d been told was fun! Well, it was all outdoors and it was bucketing down but, as new zealands only fresh water prawn farm, we thought the restaurant would be nice. All I can say is- when you order prawns- make sure they are SALT water, as freshwater ones taste of nothing, cost a bomb and have the consistency of cottage cheese- yuck yuck yuck!!

Suitably chastened by our attempts at being “local” we hurried on to Rotorua where we were to spend the next few days. We checked into a really cool “lodge” where we had our own cabion with 2 bedrooms, a bathroom and a big lounge/kitchen- all for the price of a crappy twin at a backpackers- bargain!

Rotorua is known for its extreme thermal/volcanic activity and hence stinks of rotten eggs due to the high levels of sulphur. The following day we set off early to the Wai O Tapu region where you can look around the Thermal Wonderland and see all the bubbling pools of water/mud and the geisers going off. It was fantastic to see, so much stream rising from the earth and pools of water in vivid colours due to their high mineral content. however, the stencch was quite overwhelming and we both soon felt very sick! After a few hours it was just too much so we made the joint decision to go zorbing instead. Zorbing is a New Zealand invention and involves strapping yourself into a giant hamster ball and rolling down a hill- extreme!! We decided to try the HydroZorb where you don’t get strapped in- instead they put some water in the zorb so that you slip around and tumble upsidedown all the way down the track. I have to say it was one of the funniest things I’ve ever done- I screamed and giggled my way down the hill and was really sad when it was all over! (to getinto the Zorb is probably the most challenging thing- there is a small entrance that they unzip- Rosie got her bum stuck and my boobs fell out on entry- ooops!)

The followinday dawned sunny for once, so we wasted no time in hotfooting it up the hillside on the gondola. the views of the town and lake were fantastic but, to be fair, that wasn’t really why we were there. We’d gone to ride the Luge, a gokart type contraption that you ride down the hill on tracks of varying levels. At the bottom you take a chairlift up and do another run. We’ds paid for 3 runs so startedon the scenic one to get used to it and then progressed to intermediate and advanced. it was so funny and only a little bit scary but the adrenaline hit was HUGE and we both came away grinning like maniacs! (although i think some of the turns I had to pull on the south island mountains were worse than the luge track!)

Having stayed a bit longer to enjoy the views and the sunshine from the top, we headed off to Waitomo, our next destination and home of the famous glow worm caves!

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Travel Location: Rotorua,New-Zealand

Travel About: natural-wonder,food-&-wine,cultural-immersion,tour

This place absolutely whiffs of rotten eggs – you could fart to your heart’s content here and no one would know (of course I don’t do things like that).  People come here to visit areas of thermal activity (hence the sulphur-rich air).  Even in the heart of town there are lakes covered in smoke – which would look quite mystical and romantic if is weren’t for the stench, bad enough to make you almost retch at times.

We visited ‘Waiotapu (‘thermal waters’ in Maori) Thermal Wonderland’, a compact area of cold and boiling pools of mud and water, steaming fumaroles (vents in the ground), smoking waterfalls and brightly coloured lakes.  All accompanied by the foul smell, of course.  All this is associated with volcanic activity that began 160,000 years ago.  The water can reach temperatures of up to 300 degrees centigrade.  Far off in the distance you can see the smoke coming from a geothermal power station, which just looks like another geyser.  Highlights are the boiling multi-hued ‘Champagne Pool’ and the Lady Knox Geyser that spouts punctually at 10.15 each morning, with the help of 300g of soap suds which acts as the catalyst.  The spurt of soapy water reaches heights of up to 20 metres and keeps going for about 10 minutes.  The fact that soap accelerates the geyser activity (pronounced guy-zer for anyone struggling to say it like I was) was discovered when prisoners in the prison that used to exist at this site tried to wash their clothes.

After 4 months of eating out pretty much all the time, we’ve had to put a stop to frivolous spending on food.  NZ is simply too expensive, particularly when you’ve been travelling for as long as we have (get your violins out) and when many activities here are adventure/experience-based and cost quite a bit.  Luckily, most hostels here have really good and clean kitchen facilities.  Some even have barbeques so we’ve been making the most of those.

Our evening excursion in Rotorua included food. Whoo-hoo!  We went to Mitai Maori Village.  Maori people have remained close to this sacred land around Rotorua and so it’s a good spot to catch up on heritage.  I was excited because we would see more traditional dancing – I just love it (especially the haka war dance).  These tours are incredibly heavily commercialised (there were 300 people), but still highly recommended.  We were treated to a hangi – food cooked in a earth oven, made by digging a hole and steaming food in baskets over embers in the hole.  The food was unveiled to us outside – whole chickens, lamb legs and potatoes.  I doubt that the rest of the food – salads, garlic bread, dauphinous potatoes followed by desserts were strictly Maori, or even if this food we were shown was actually cooked in this hangi oven, but the food was delicious anyway.  It was a buffet and there was heaps of it.

A ‘chief’ had been selected from the group of tourists (I believe his wife put up his hand) to represent the ‘nation of four winds’ as we were all named.  When we all sat in front of a stage made up to look like a traditional Maori village we were treated to a welcoming ceremony by the tribe of costumed men and women.  Ceremony is very important to the Maori people and in their long long speeches much care is taken to praise ancestors.  Our ‘chief’ (poor bloke) had to deliver a speech to the Maori leader on stage introducing us and paying his respects and then press noses with the elder.  This is called haku, the sharing of life breath, and signifies acceptance.   We all sang, copying the Maori line for line. We were treated to a demonstration of weapons and musical instruments in action, exercises to prepare for battle, singing and dancing.  The men on stage were literally wearing g-sting loin cloths and little else but tattoos all over their thighs, bums and faces.  We were shown and told about the common tattoo designs.  For most of them in this ‘show’ the tattoos were just make-up, although the Maori playing the part of the elder told us that the ones on his legs and buttocks were genuine.  Originally these would have been created using bone chisels, a mallet and blue pigment.  Ouch.  The women traditionally just (!) had tattoos on their lips and chins.  From a distance it looks like they’ve been eating something bloody.

At the end we all stood and learnt some dance movements, including the elevated eyebrows, eyes wide open (so you can see whites all around) and tongue out move.  My favourite.

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Travel About: park,relaxation,hot-springs,bath-house

At the moment we are in Rotorua which is very important to the Maori culture as well as being apparently the thinnest area of the earths crust. This means that there are loads of steaming sulphurous ponds, bubbling mud holes and a pervasive odour of rotting eggs. Despite this Rotorua is a very funky place (in more ways than one), we are staying in a lovely modern hostel and there are loads of interesting places to visit. Today we went to the Governors gardens, a historical park with an old bath house which has been turned into a museum. Amidst the steaming ponds of the park were, surreally, a group of older people in crisp whites playing a big bowls tournament. We sat and watched for a bit, there were lots of swallows swooping around and the day was absolutely gorgeous (mid 20s and sunny), and the boys were strangely transfixed by the whole event.

We ended up in the Blue Baths, the re-housed bath house built in the 30s in a grand Roman style and it was a very chilled experience. There was hardly anyone else there, and we had the main pool and the two hotter side pools almost to ourselves. Stanley practiced his breast stroke and Archie luxuriated in the hottest pool whilst we enjoyed the sunshine and Ella Fitzgerald over the tannoy. After lunch we booked the next leg of our journey (8 hours on the coach to Wellington tomorrow – joy) and the ferry over to the south island the day after tomorrow. Reeling from the amount of money we’ve spent since we’ve arrived (my god everything is expensive here) we strolled around the streets of Rotorua enjoying the $2 shops (about our price range at the moment) and the continuing sunshine – can’t get used to it with all the Christmas decorations and carols.

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Travel About: cultural-immersion,art-&-museum,te-puia

We woke up early, as usual, allowing me time to become once again numbed and appalled by morning TV shows in UK-related countries. During the show, the host spilled coffee on herself and showed us all some muffins one of the crew had baked for her. On another show, the hosts openly mocked the guest, who I believe was the head of the Labour party or something. I cannot imagine Meredith Vieira spilling coffee on herself on camera or hearing Al Roker talking candidly about his corns or seeing Matt Lauer make fun of Howard Dean. It takes a lot to make me pine for the Today Show, but there you have it.

After the numbing, we headed out at 8:00 for breakfast at Lime Caffeteria, which was a great idea. I had eggs, and Gretchen had pancakes (of course) that came with the best, sweetest berries imaginable. We were even more surprised to learn that they are not actually in season – this is just how they are. The strawberries tasted like the ones in the US do after you add a lot of sugar. Delicious!

I generally do not like bus tours, but let me tell you: This one was terrific.

We headed south of town to Te Puia Maori cultural center, where we joined a walking tour and learned about Maori legends and their ways. We also got to see some kiwi birds, which I have completely fallen in love with since we got here. They are so cute! After the kiwis, we went to a Maori cultural show at 10:15. Before the presentation, a Dutch guy named Don was selected to be our chief. We all stood outside the Maori meeting house while one of the warriors came out and welcomed us to his land – it was a pretty threatening greeting. After Don accepted the warrior’s peace offering on our behalf, we were all welcomed into the house. They performed traditional Maori dancing, which reminded both of us of Hawaiian hula dancing. I volunteered to try poi dancing, and the performers also taught some of the guys from the audience how to do the haka, the Maori war dance. One of the old men from the audience got into the act – he took his shirt off! The performers did a dance that involved throwing sticks around, like group juggling. It was a terrific show. After the show, we got to see the Puhuku geyser erupt.

After Te Puia, we headed north of town again to the Agrodome, where they have some sort of sheep-shearing presentation, but we were not there for sheep. We were there to go zorbing! Friends, I say to you: Zorbing is the greatest thing imaginable. For those of you who haven’t heard me talk about it or seen it on The Amazing Race, zorbing involves climbing into a big plastic ball with an inner chamber (actually, you jump in Superman-style) partially filled with water and then rolling down a zigzag downhill course. Because of the water, you slip and slide inside the ball. It is not scary at all. There is not even a sensation of falling…it is more like getting thrown into a washing machine. It was a terrific ride. We both absolutely loved it.

Once we had Zorbed, we headed back to Rotorua town and went to the Rotorua Museum, which had terrific exhibits about the town’s history. It has always attracted people because of the geothermal baths and restorative healing waters. In 1886, though, nearby Mt. Tarawera erupted and totally changed the whole landscape. There was an interesting (and sad) exhibit about this eruption and about the tectonic happenings around Rotorua in general. The museum also had an exhibit showing the old bathhouses (essentially just a bunch of big closets with tubs in them).

After the museum, Gretchen went for a run along Lake Rotorua, and I drove around and explored a little more. I got some good pictures of the lake and the island in the middle of it. I also took some alone time to read a book in the park. Awesome! After our solo time, we met up again for a quick stop at the Polynesian Spa, which is a wonderful complex with pools of hot, very hot, and incredibly hot water from the springs underneath the city. The sulfur smell was not as strong as you would think, but the yellow deposits on all of the rocks in the spa were unmistakable evidence that sulfur is nearby. It is easy to see why the waters are said to have restorative powers – we both noticed that our skin felt softer as soon as we got in, and my knee and ankle (which I had twisted at the geothermal park the day before) felt great. The pools are outside and have great views of Lake Rotorua and the mountains surrounding the city.

We headed back to our hotel, where we were picked up for our evening outing, a trip to Tamaki cultural village south of town. This whole evening was a terrific experience and gave us a lot of insight into how the Maori came to New Zealand (or, as they call it, Aotearoa, “the land of the flat white clouds”). First we went to a visitor’s center in town and saw some movies about the Maori’s life in Tahiti prior to coming to New Zealand. Then we were herded back onto the bus for the ride to the village. I generally do not like bus tours, but let me tell you: This one was terrific. On the way down, the driver told us more about the Maori culture and got us into the spirit by having us elect a chief (this time, a bald Asian guy from LA named Homer) and having him lead us in “rowing the canoe” to the ceremony. Once we got to the Tamaki village, we were greeted with a ceremony very similar to the one we saw at Te Puia earlier today, but this time it was bigger and better…there was fire juggling this time! After the welcome, we went into the village and saw some demonstrations of food preparation and storage, weaving, and weapon making. After the demonstrations, we were taken into the meeting house for a terrific Maori dance show, including the ever-popular haka dance. The show was absolutely top-notch.

After the show, we went into the dining area to share a traditional hangi (earth oven) meal. Similar to a Hawaiian luau, the hangi meal involves cooking meat, potatoes, and so on by putting hot rocks into a hole, putting the food on top of the rocks, and letting it cook for 3 or 4 hours. As you might expect, this method results in absolutely perfect meat. We enjoyed hangi lamb, chicken, and fish as well as potatoes, carrots, and taro. They also served stuffing, which was a good surprise since we will be missing Thanksgiving this year. For dessert, they served chocolate pudding (=cake) made in the hangi oven as well as pavlova (a fluffy dessert) and fruit salad with plenty of kiwifruit, of course! Gretchen got to see a demonstration about how to make a hangi oven at home, so be sure you ask her to make hangi for you when we get back…I had to stay inside because it was freakin’ freezing, Mr. Bigglesworth, and I was wearing a skirt because my jeans were still drying in the hotel after I washed them. At the end of the evening, the performers showed up again (this time in street clothes) and sang us some more songs. The lead performer gave us a wonderful goodbye speech. I really felt like they were honored that we had all come from so far to learn about their culture. The bus ride home was even fun – our driver had us sing songs from our home countries, and she pulled a highly illegal move on the roundabout (i.e., driving around and around and around the traffic circle) while singing “She’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain” in Maori. She dropped everyone off at his or her hotel, and the whole bus waved goodbye to everyone as they left. I tell you, it was a wonderful experience. The only down side was that Gretchen mentioned the song “God Bless America,” so of course I started think-singing that song, and of course it was the 20-minute-long Celine Dion Song That Never Ends version of it.

Tomorrow we leave Rotorua. We have really enjoyed our two action-packed days here. The city is a really interesting place since it is such a special place for the Maori, but it has been a tourist attraction for Europeans and Americans since the 1850s. The city hall is in a Tudor style, which is unexpected until you realize how the cultures are mixing here. We’ll also miss having the opportunity to refer to “liquid hot mag-ma” and have it be in context. Anyway, next stop: Christchurch and wine, wine, wine!

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Travel Location: Rotorua,New-Zealand

Travel About: natural-wonder,adventure,zorbing,geyser

The infamous hydrothermal area of Rotorua was the next destination on our campervan trip around New Zealand. The town was situated near the centre of the North Island, was one of the most visited sights in the country, and was one of the few places in the world where people are able to witness firsthand the power of volcanic activity taking place underneath the earth’s surface. There were locations within the town of Rotorua itself where hydrothermal activity was busily showing itself off, but the main areas of thermal interest, also the most spectacular, visually, were found a few miles out of town.

Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland was the most well-known thermal area and the place we chose to visit, so we could learn more about thermal activity and get a close glimpse of the amazing natural occurrences. When we finally made it to Wai-O-Tapu, we learnt that it was the largest area of surface activity for any hydrothermal system around the globe. Read on and you will understand how amazing the place was to visit!

The smells we had to draw in through our nostrils were often of the “rotten egg” variety

Before actually arriving in Rotorua, we had decided to visit Agrodome, a large complex offering unusual “thrill seeker” activities and various sheep displays that included a live stage show. The show included a sheep-shearing demonstration and an introduction to the many different types of domesticated sheep; we bought tickets for the show in order to learn more about the animals, knowing that we would see them all over the country in the next few weeks. Agrodome sold a combination ticket that included entrance to the show and a couple of thrill seeker activities, and we went for that option. The activities we chose to do were Shweebing and Zorbing.

Agrodome was a few miles outside of Rotorua and on our way from Matamata, so we stopped off there before making our way to the Top 10 Rotorua Holiday Park, where we planned to stay for a couple of evenings. We arrived at Agrodome in the early afternoon and checked out the show times as soon as we parked our campervan. Our timing was good – there was a show starting an hour after we had arrived and the hour wait would give us time to go to the Shweeb and Zorb activities we had purchased with our tickets. In addition to the two activities we chose, Agrodome also offered several other activities such as speed jet-boating, swooping, extreme freefall body flying and bungy jumping.

The Shweeb velodrome was the world’s first human-powered monorail racetrack. It consisted of two 200-metre long overhead rail circuits that varied in height between two and four metres above the ground. Under the tracks were high performance pedal powered vehicles. Between one and five vehicles could be loaded onto each track, enabling teams to race each other or against the clock, but we were the only ones there at the time and we each had our own track to race along. When we were loaded into the “capsule”, which was a seated bicycle hanging below the rail and encased in clear plastic, with no ground contact at all, we felt like we were starring in an episode of “The Jetsons”. As we reached speeds up to 60km per hour, we found ourselves racing around the track and enjoying the ride (well, one of us was, at least).

The track spanned around a small field and featured a couple of dips and raised sections to make the journey a little more fun, yet taxing at times. The guys running the Shweeb said that the ride had only been open for a month and they had been keeping track of any records set by customers from different countries. From the start, Dan had the technique mastered and nearly beat the UK speed record, but Kyle had gotten confused by something he was told as he climbed into his capsule, and he gave up halfway, choosing to relax and enjoy the ride rather than race to the finish. When we finished our three laps around the track, we climbed out of our capsules and headed to our campervan so we could drive down the road to the Zorb activity section of Agrodome’s grounds.

For anyone who doesn’t know what a Zorb is, we’ll explain it the best that we can. A Zorb was a large, inflated, clear plastic (soft like the plastic used for an inflatable raft) ball that bounced on the ground and was good for rolling down hills, once people had been stuffed inside it. When we bought our ticket for the Zorb, we were given the option for a wet or dry ride. The wet ride would have featured us inside the ball (up to 3 people could fit inside), slipping and sliding, as the ball raced down a steep grassy hill. That option didn’t mean that we would have been tumbling head over heels inside the ball; instead, sitting inside the wet ball was like going down a water slide. The dry option would have had us each strapped inside a Zorb of our own before the large ball was pushed down the hill, somersaulting over and over as it approached the bottom. We chose the dry option because we were on limited time, with the sheep show due to start 20 minutes after we signed a disclaimer preventing the people running the Zorbs from getting into trouble if, or when, we broke our necks trying to complete the adventurous activity.

Dan went first in the Zorb and Kyle had no idea how he felt when he made it to the bottom, since he was still waiting at the top of the hill, ready to climb into a Zorb of his own, when Dan’s ride was finished. He saw Dan dive into the Zorb at the start and knew that it was the way he would be required to enter his ball. He also saw Dan being strapped into a chair-like seat inside the Zorb, having his ankles, chest and wrists strapped to provide him being flung around when the ball was set into action.

As the ball bounced and rolled down the hill, Kyle realised that the ride would probably seem to last much longer than it actually did, and he dove into his Zorb wondering how ill he would feel afterwards. At the same time that Kyle dove into his Zorb, Dan was stumbling to the lockers where he had put his trainers (that’s the same as tennis shoes for the Americans reading this), so he could put them back on. Note that, when Zorbing, we weren’t allowed to wear shoes of any kind. Also, note that Dan was stumbling to the lockers because he was dizzy and nauseous from the ride, something that Kyle was soon to experience as his Zorb settled at the bottom of the hill.

When we left the Zorb activity and headed back to the main building at Agrodome, we decided that the two activities were probably not worth the money we paid. Throughout our time in New Zealand, we felt that activities and entrance fees were priced much higher than they should have been, and those two rides were no exception; the Zorb and Shweeb were also somewhat lame with little reward afterwards. However, we had to take advantage of the unusual activities on offer, if only to include an interesting (we hope!) story in our travel journal for our 2007 around-the-world trip. We made it to the sheep show just as they were closing the doors and joined a large audience that had already taken their seats. Kyle found a seat in the second row so he could take pictures during the show, but Dan stayed towards the back of the audience because there weren’t two seats together in the front.

The presenter during the show was a lively man who had clearly been around sheep for his entire life. He was super enthusiastic and funny, giving everyone a good show. There were several occasions where people from the audience were pulled onto stage or talked to, and this made the show very interesting and fun to watch. The first thing that the presenter did was introduce the many different types of domesticated sheep that were used to provide wool or food products. As he introduced each one, he told us what they were good for (e.g. lamb meat, or wool for clothing), and each sheep example ran up from the sides of the room and climbed a set of steps to join their place on stage.

There were at least fifteen different breeds of sheep on stage by the time the man had run though them all, and they were standing, or sitting, on a set of steps in front of name placards describing the breed (e.g Suffolk or Merino). Most of the breeds of sheep were European, but all of the types of sheep were used across farms in New Zealand, providing a variety of products for both Kiwis and as exports to other countries. After the introductions had been made, the sheep stayed in their spots throughout the rest of the show, happily nibbling on the food that was placed at each of their stations. We think that a few little nuggets were dispensed from behind some of the sheep, too.

The rest of the show included sheep dog demonstrations, sheep shearing, cow milking and lamb feeding. There were two types of sheep dogs, one that uses its eyes to control the sheep, never barking, and one that uses its loud, intimidating bark to corral the animals. The dogs were really cute and, at one point, they climbed over and jumped on top of the sheep’s backs to get them to move one way or another. The sheep just stood there and let the dogs do this, which we thought was very unusual. The sheep shearing demonstration was over in just a couple of minutes; it was amazing how quickly a sheep could be sheared by someone with experience. The cow milking and lamb feeding were audience participation activities and Kyle was pulled up on stage with a few other people to feed the lambs milk from bottles.

The show lasted an hour and we were happy to have seen it, much happier than we were after getting nauseous in the Zorbs and spending wasted money on that and the Shweeb activity. After the show ended, we were able to climb up onto the stage and pet the sheep, getting a closer look at the different breeds. There was also a corral with several lambs inside, and we were able to walk around that and play with the lambs. After spending time with the baby sheep, we left Agrodome, headed straight for the Top 10 Rotorua Holiday Park. We checked in for two nights and parked Bessie, our campervan, at one of the power and water sites there.

Kuirau Park was next to the Top 10 where we stayed, and we visited the park as soon as we had set up our campervan for the night. It was early evening but the sun was still out, and we walked around the park for an hour, looking at the different thermal displays there. There was no entry fee to walk around the park and look at the thermal activity, which we thought was good. We saw many examples of thermal pools and bubbling mud pools. Steam was rising from each of the pools and the stench of sulphur was strong in the air. It was amazing to think about the cause of the thermal activity, knowing that parts of the ground could collapse at any time, or that the ground could blow upwards, just like a volcano.

As we walked around the park, we noticed a bright orange, sometimes reddish-brown, algae growing on plants and trees around the thermal pools; this was actually classed as a green algae and had the name Trentepohlia. The colour was due to an orange pigment that hid the normally green pigment of plants, otherwise known as chlorophyll. When we had seen enough of the park to satisfy our thermal cravings for the evening, we started walking towards the Rotorua town centre to check it out.

The town was small but had a nice centre part with many restaurants, bars and cafes. We found a nice cafe with some computers set up for internet access, and we had a couple of iced coffees there whilst checking emails and catching up with friends and family. After spending some time there, it had gotten late and we didn’t want to have to cook dinner back at the campervan, so we went for a curry at a lovely Indian restaurant in the town centre. The food was excellent – we had poppadums to start, with several different chutneys, and then we shared a chicken korma curry and chicken jalfrezi curry. At the time, we had no idea that it was possible to order a curry with a deep-fried scorpion served on top (we found out later when reading a Rotorua newspaper); if we had known, we may have decided to give that a go since we hadn’t been too adventurous during our time in Asia in the first half of the year.

It had started raining while we were eating dinner and we walked back in it, but it was only a slight drizzle. That was probably one of the first times we started saying that we were looking forward to returning to London after our trip ended on 2nd January. The climate was cooler in New Zealand, much cooler than any other place we had been during 2007, and it felt like we were walking around back home. The truth was that it was actually colder in London at the time, because everyone there was experiencing late autumn weather and we were experiencing the end of a New Zealand spring season. When we made it back to the Top 10, we were both pretty tired and we went to bed.

When morning came, we were still pretty exhausted and decided to sleep in as late as possible. We woke up close to noon and ate breakfast before leaving to visit Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland, which was located 27km south on the Thermal Explorer Highway (highway 5). Wai-O-Tapu was the Maori name given to the large area of unique volcanic natural wonders. Wai-O-Tapu means “Sacred Waters” in Maori, which is the native language to the indigenous people of New Zealand. The area was New Zealand’s most colourful and diverse volcanic area, and we were amazed at the variety of natural displays within the park. The walks through the park took us on a journey through stunning hydrothermal activity and unforgettable vistas, just like the brochure said we would experience.

With every pool, lake, crater, steam vent or mineral terrace, or even the tracks that we walked on, we found innumerable colours of every tint and hue. The Artist’s Palette was the largest area, a mixture of hot and cold pools, and steaming, hissing fumaroles with a variety of ever-changing colours. One part of the Artist’s Palette was the Champagne Pool, which was unique in the world, a fifth of a hectare of bubbling, hissing water, with a beautiful ochre-coloured petrified edge to it. Throughout the park, the water in most of the pools was extremely hot, obviously causing steam to rise, and we could feel the heat just by standing near the water’s edge.

The colours we saw during our walk around Wai-O-Tapu were all natural and due to different mineral elements in the pools. Green represented colloidal sulphur or ferrous salts, orange meant that antimony was present, purple was for manganese oxide, white was caused by silica, yellow-primrose was due to sulphur, red-brown as a result of iron oxide, and black came from sulphur and carbon combinations. The smells we had to draw in through our nostrils were often of the “rotten egg” variety and were associated with the hydrogen sulphide gases that escaped from many of the pools or steam vents.

The water beneath the ground at the park was heated by magma leftover from earlier volcanic eruptions, and the water was so hot (temperatures up to 300 degrees Celsius have been recorded) that it absorbed minerals out of the rocks through which it passed, and transported them to the surface as steam where they were ultimately absorbed into the ground. The colours and smell, and resulting pools, were a result of this process, and both of us were extremely impressed.

After we left the main section of Wai-O-Tapu, where we had walked a few kilometres to visit all of the park’s natural attractions, we drove to the section of mud pools, which was down the road from the visitor centre. The mud pools there were the largest in all of New Zealand, and we saw violent and spectacular displays of boiling grey mud there. It was a nice finish to an afternoon where we had seen such a variety of volcanic disruption, including the colourful hydrothermal pools, and also a dozen large craters that had been formed by eruptions, or by internal chasms.

The one main attraction that we missed that afternoon was Lady Knox Geyser, which began gushing every morning at the same time: 10:15am. The geyser reached heights up to 20 metres and would have been an impressive sight, but we would’ve had to return the next morning to see it. The woman that sold us the entrance ticket to Wai-O-Tapu said that we could use the ticket stub to see Lady Knox at any point in the future, and we thought we would add the attraction onto our agenda when we returned to the North Island from the South Island, as we made our way back to Auckland at the end of our month in the country. Just so you know, we ended up giving the geyser a miss at the end of the month, being too tired to do much sightseeing in the North Island when we returned a few weeks later.

Before driving the 27km back to Rotorua, we pulled over at a picnic area and had lunch next to a beautiful lake. The day had been truly gorgeous, with the sun shining and it being pretty warm outside. Therefore, we opened the side and back doors of the campervan and ate sandwiches whilst reading our books and enjoying the sunshine’s warmth pouring into the vehicle. When we left an hour later, we drove back to Rotorua, stopped at a supermarket to buy some more groceries, and then headed back to Top 10 Rotorua Holiday Park so we could pull Bessie into the campervan site we had booked the day before.

For dinner that evening, we ate a couple of microwave pies, a Mexican one and another filled with mince, and some fish fingers that we cooked our the grill in our campervan. We could only use the microwave in our vehicle when we were hooked into a power site, so we decided to go ahead and consume the pies that night. The fish fingers cooked well under the grill, even though it was suggested that we used a conventional oven. We read more of our books whilst eating our meals, and then watched a DVD film afterwards before going to sleep. The next morning, we left early to drive to Waitomo to check out the eerie glowworm caves, a must-do on any New Zealand itinerary.

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Travel Location: Rotorua,New-Zealand

Travel About: natural-wonder,art-&-museum,park,cave

Having started my journey on the ‘ Magic Bus ‘ I’m now aware of the drawback of using this type of travel. As it takes passengers to tourist spots on route , you’re in for a long wait if you don’t want to participate.

Yesterday we had a stop at the Glowworm Cave that have – surprise , surprise – a colony of resident glowworms .I’m sure it would have been  very nice to see ,  and our dear old Queen had a look in the 50′s but  I bet she wasn’t asked to cough up over  $30 for the privilege .As I couldn’t afford that much I had to wait 3 hours which made it a long day. I just hope I’m not in for similar days for the rest of the tour. I was sufficiently bored to look round the small , overpriced  museum and now know all I ever wanted to about glowworms. So I thought I’d share it with you.

They’re not worms at all , of course , but larvae of the fungus gnat. The glow is to attract flying insects that the larvae trap with sticky threads , then feed on . They eat a lot as they don’t  during the rest of their short  life cycle ; the adult doesn’t have a mouth , poor thing.

My favorite new fact is that the glow is achieved by them oxidizing their poo. Nice trick if you can do it.

Anyway , I’m now in Rotura.The first thing you notice is the smell.It’s a geothermal area and the air is thick with sulphur , so opening the window in the morning to get fresh air means the faint  aroma of rotten eggs.Apparently one gets used to it. A walk around a rainy Kuirau Park was atmospheric. Full of swirling mist like some old film , set  in foggy London.

Apparently we’ll see some more spectacular results of this past volcanic activity on the way to the next port of call , Taupo.

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Travel Location: Rotorua,New-Zealand

Travel About: natural-wonder,cultural-immersion,historic,village,volcano,hot-springs

So how did you like all the funky stuff I told you about Rotorua in the last post? Sometimes the city seems like any other city….then you bump into a geothermal area, and it looks like another planet! Well, the whole area around Rotorua is filled with volcanic areas, and activity. Other places in NZ have volcanoes too. This post I am going to tell you about one place that suffered from a volcanic disaster, then I’ll share about our second Maori experience. So let’s get started.

Remember when we learned about Pompeii last year? If you forgot, here’s a quick summary: Mount Vesuvius erupted, spewing ash, mud, volcanic gases, lava flow and such all over the city of Pompeii. It was buried under all this in a matter of hours. For hundreds of years it remained buried, until some archaeologists (those are people who dig up ancient artifacts and places to try to figure out what they are, and what they mean) dug it up. Being under all that volcanic material preserved the city as it was the day it was covered, so we can see what life was like in a 1st century Roman city.

Well, something like this happened here in New Zealand. They call it the Buried Village, and Norma and I headed just south of Rotorua to check it out. In the late 1800′s, thousands of tourists would come through this area to visit two magnificent geothermal features, called the White and Pink Terraces. They were different colorful ledges cascading down to the lake, and filled with hot springs pools as they went. Sometimes they were even called the 8th wonder of the world. People came from all over the world to see these incredible features. It wasn’t easy to get to them as there were no real roads, and it involved a lot of hiking and even travelling by boat to make it out to see the terraces. Local people provided food, places to stay, transportation, and guide services to the tourists coming out to the area. As a result, several villages grew up around the area. This was also the traditional land for a Maori tribe. Now keep in mind, that where there are geothermal features, there is also volcanic activity. Some time in the 1870′s or 1880′s ( I don’t have my notebook with me, so I can’t remember the exact date), something wierd began to happen in nature. A guide noticed that the fish were dying. The streams around the lake had no water in them, while the level of the lake began to rise. Small earthquakes occurred. Then, one guide reported seeing a ghost canoe. She and her group were going across the lake towards the terraces, when an ancient style Maori canoe with many paddlers appeared. When they got closer, she said that the rowers were not human; they had scary dog faces. Then, they just disappeared. This is what people call an omen. That means a sign to say that something good or bad is going to happen in the future. Now you may not believe in this, and I may not believe in this, but the guide did and told the local Maori spiritual leader. He declared that all these signs meant something bad was going to happen in the near future. Although some people felt not exactly right about this (uneasy), no one left, and they all continued taking tourists to the terraces. A few days later, the nearby volcano erupted, spewing fiery lava high into the night sky. Instead of running away, many people just went out onto the balcony of their hotel and watch the display. It must have been like fireworks in a huge way! Unfortunately, for some people, that was the last thing they saw. The volcano began spewing out ash, smoke, and lava bombs- huge fiery rocks that flew up into the sky and crash-landed in flames on the earth. The lava that had been building up under the lake also exploded up and out, blowing the terraces to tiny bits, destroying them completely. Volcanic mud also poured out of the volcano, burying many villages completely under yards and yards of mud. Several villages disappeared completely under the mud, and everyone who lived there died. There was no way to even see if there were survivors because the mud was so thick and deep. But in the village that is now called the Buried Village, many people ran to 2 of the buildings in the village that they thought might stay together under the rush of mud, ash, and lava bombs. One was the Maori meeting house, and the other the guide Sophia’s house. Lots of other houses in the village collapsed from the weight of the mud and ash. But thse two didn’t, though they were covered halfway to two thirds in the volcanic mud. In Sophia’s house, they dug themselves out with a garden shovel and garden fork after the eruption stopped. Survivors had to move away from the village, as it was hopelessly ruined. And besides, there were no more terraces to show. Time went past, and the mud hardened, grass grew on it, and the area became more or less abandoned. In the 1930′s, a family bought the area to farm and to serve teas to travellers going through. They knew about the buried village, and finally decided to have archaeologists excavate it. Under layers and layers of mud, they discovered parts of houses remaining, bottles, glasses, beds, dishes, shoes, clocks, hats, and other artifacts of life from the time period. They were still covered in the now hardened mud, but you could see what the things were, and in some cases, you could chip the mud away to see the piece underneath. The family decided to dig out as much of the village as remained, and put the whole thing on display. And that is how the Buried Village started. You can walk through and see what houses looked like in that time, and some of the household items that were used in that day. It’s like these things were preserved under the mud that covered them.

Walking around the village was kind of wierd. It was like a ghost town. Some of the buildings were gone, but they had rebuilt some, while others had remained under the mud. You could also see how high the mud had flowed, and why it was so hard to survive such a volcanic blast. Norma and I enjoyed looking at all the artifacts and houses, but it was also kind of creepy to think about that volcano- because it is still there, and while it is “sleeping” at the moment, it could erupt again.

After finishing at the village, we drove up to a lookout to see the volcano. The thing is, we all have a certain idea of how a volcano should look. This didn’t look all that different from a regular mountain, though the top was kind of dented in from the eruption. They had some pictures from the time period before the volcanic eruption, and you could see how much the land had changed because of the eruption. It was very interesting.

We headed back into town to do a little shopping so I could get some artifacts for our culture kits. I can’t wait to show all the neat stuff I got for you to look at! After that, we went back to our place and got ready for the Maori experience that night. Again, a bus picked us up to take us to our show and feast. This place was called Mitai, and is owned by the Maori tribe of the area. A family from that tribe does the show on the land. This time we started with a little break in the dining tent to have a drink and relax for a few minutes. I tried a mango soda. It was pretty good. After our guide found out where we all were from and taught us a song, we had to choose a chief to represent us when we went up to the village for the welcoming ceremony. Then we followed a path into the rainforest to wait by the river. The next thing that happened was truly magnificent. Maori warriors came down the river in a canoe. Now, when we think of a canoe, we think of those little dinky things we take out on the lake that fit 2 or 3 people. Remember, the Maori came to New Zealand (Aeteroa) across many wide and wild miles of Pacific ocean. Their canoes are huge, long, and mighty, and can hold 40, 50, maybe more, people. This canoe that came down the river was a smaller copy of those mighty canoes. It was elaborately carved, and the warriors chanted as they rowed the canoe past us. It was an incredible sight, and a really awesome moment. After that, we headed up to the village. This time the village was built on a stage for us to view as we sat before it. Again, a mighty warrior came out and challenged our chief, offering a peace challenge to the chief. Once the chief accepted it in the proper way (eye contact, pick it up, back away), the chief of the village gave a speech in the Maori language, that our guide translated. Remember, I told you that speeches are an important part of Maori culture, especially in the greeting ceremonies. Our chief then had to give a speech, too, then we sang the song we had learned. The cool thing about it was that he was from Mexico, so he gave the speech in both Spanish and English. It was impressive, and we were welcomed into the village with a welcoming song after that. We got to then stay in our seats as the performers explained more about their culture between songs and dances. Once again, the poi, the long and short stick, and haka were done, but this time this group also showed us the moves that a warrior might do in training for battle, and in using the long stick to learn to fight. Younger members of the group showed us the exercises that the men had to do to work on their strength, agility, speed, and balance. One of them involved the man squatting and having to jump between sets of sticks without losing his balance, or touching the sticks. This group also let us get a better view of the women doing the haka, and explained that different tribes have different hakas. They spoke more in Maori, and sang us a Maori song, with one of them translating as they went. They also showed us a more modern dance where the women and men dance in couples. Finally, one man showed us his real tattoos. The moko (tattoos) on his face were also the painted ones, but the ones all over the back of his legs and thighs were real ones. He explained the meanings of these tattoos, which have a different special name. These tattoos symbolize character traits (like the lifeskills) that you want to have. Another meaning of the moko on the face was of 4 birds of NZ that symbolize different strengths, characteristics, and personality traits. It made me look at the tattoos in a different way, since they really told the story of the person who had them.

We then headed back to the feast tent. Remember I told you about the underground oven in the last post? Well, this time we actually got to see one with the food in it. They had just uncovered it, so we saw all the meats and vegetables in the trays that had just been steamed for our dinner. Once again, the food was really tasty. After dinner, we took a night walk into the rainforest again to see glowworms and the tribal sacred spring. I will tell you more about glowworms in my next post, but for now let me just say that they glow like tiny little stars in places close to rivers. We saw a few in the bushes as we walked to the sacred spring. The sacred spring was absolutely beautiful. It was so clear that it looked like glass instead of water. You could see all the different fish living in there, and even a big black eel on the bottom. For the Maori of this area, it is a special place in their spiritual beliefs, so it is their responsibioity to take care of and protect the spring.

And that ended our wonderful Mitai night. I was so glad we had gone to 2 shows, since we learned different things at each one, and saw different things at each one. Sadly, that was also the end of our time in Rotorua. Both Norma and I wished that we had had a day or two more there, but time was running short, so we had to head on out in the morning if we wanted to see all we planned to see! So where are we off to next? Cave country….on my birthday!

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Travel Location: Rotorua,New-Zealand

Travel About: cultural-immersion,wildlife-viewing,spa

Since I was already so far north for the Hamilton match, I decided to take a few days to travel before heading back to Wellington. That is, after all, why I’m in New Zealand. So on Monday morning I caught the bus from Auckland, where my friend and I had gone following the match, to Rotorua about two hours to the south east. It’s a town reputed for its rotten egg smell, thermal activity, Maori culture and mud. Despite the smell, it’s still highly recommended as a North Island activity. I even knew a little bit this one, but still didn’t find what I was expecting. I think it’s time I just stop expecting all together. Given the nickname, I was picturing something brash and flashy, an entertainment capital, but didn’t find one. The only similarity to Los Vegas in my mind is the shows. Here Maori culture is both celebrated and commercialized, shown through the overwhelming availability to tourists. All the major hotels have Maori concerts and Hangi (a traditional feast). Many of the local Marae (technically the open area before a carved meeting house, but used generally to describe the meeting place for a group or tribe of Maori) have opened themselves to tourists and put on concerts as well.

For my introduction to Maori culture I chose Te Puia, which was described as a cultural centre including a little bit of everything the area was known for: boiling mud pools, geysers, a Kiwi house, carving and weaving exhibitions, and the traditional concert. The mud pools were interesting, the main active geyser Pohutu the tallest in New Zealand if not even farther afield, and the Kiwis are cute, but the main attraction is supposed to be the interactive Maori experience. Rather than just sitting down for the show you gather outside the Marae, choose a chief from your group (which must be male, urgh!) who then has to not offend the warriors that come out to check whether you are friend or foe by picking up the fern leaf that is offered and backing away slowly. You then flow through culture and custom as the group is approved of, welcomed and enters the intricately carved meeting house after removing your shoes as a sign of respect. What followed I believe are the basic elements of any concert in town, which would include Maori songs, games, authentic costumes made from plants and other items found in nature, and traditional dances including the local Haka and a Poi dance using white balls on a string the women twirl as they dance, sometimes up to four at a time. When the show ends you’re once again free to wander around the grounds. You can even wander into the connected village where my tour guide, her extended family and many of the others employed at the centre still live in community.

Pretty sure whoever decided on the nickname has never been to Los Vegas!

Back at my hostel, I started cooking my dinner and actually wondered if I was the only person staying the night until halfway through my rotini bolognase another girl unloaded her groceries. A few more people checked in as I read my book, but I can’t imagine there were more than a dozen of us in probably a 100 bed hostel. I managed to forget my ear plugs since I had packed in a hurry, so opted to pay $1 more for a female only dorm when checking in the night before. Less chance of snoring! Since no other females went for the extra expense, my 8 bed dorm made for a nice warm single.

Speaking of warm, when checking in I made sure there was bedding before committing as the only place I’d seen central heating since winter had set in was the NZRU building where I worked. As I unloaded my things I began to wonder if I had made a poor decision noting basic blankets only, chipped paint on wooden window sills, and oh so seventies worn carpet and matching bathrooms. When I realized noticed the radiator heating, the place became a palace in my mind and everything else was forgotten.

During the few trips I’ve managed to eke out in my time here, I’ve tried to break out of old habits (previously discussed) and experience a little more of what’s on offer. In Picton my wine (not WING, despite my typo) tour was definitely uncharacteristic and I wanted to keep that up. Here I caught myself about halfway through living like a pauper, making decisions based on best value/lowest price once again and experiencing nothing beyond the basic necessity of Rotorua already described. Please refer back to the subtle comment on rotini bolognase. At least this time I put beef in it! I’ve had plain pasta and sauce in hostel kitchens at some of the best cities in Europe: Dublin, Vienna, Prague, and etcetera. To be fair, I’m usually on a very tight budget and skimping on food means getting to do more things. Skipping lunch or getting Kebab (one of the cheapest, most plentiful fast foods in all of Europe) has often made room for an extra castle, museum or ferry ride in my day’s funds. I can just hear my mom’s shudder as I write this. Here in New Zealand you’d have to skip a week’s worth of meals to fit in an extra activity as so many things (especially with no car to get to them) require a tour that starts from $80 to $100. Te Puia was a steal, giving you a taste of everything but not fully experiencing anything, except maybe the geysers, for a mere $35 plus $6 return for the bus.

I had already booked the night bus back to to Welly that evening (oh so very backpackerish) and needed to find something to do until the 11:00 p.m. departure. So kicking myself, I’d decided I should splurge on something really impressive, something really Rotorua to fill my time. I whittled my choices down to A) a night tour of a kiwi house, a likely more elaborate Maori concert and feast, tour of a glo worm cave and a few other nighttime adventures and B) a night at the spa including the therapeutic thermal pools the area is known for. While I pondered my choices, not being able to shake the well honed instinct for something free or cheap completely, I spent most of the day walking around the Redwood Nature Reserve not far from town. The trees are imposing, looking down from their lofty heights as you walk between them feeling like a character in ‘Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.’ Just looking at them you know they’ve weathered decade upon decade of storms and different people standing at their feet, not always with good intentions. I fancy the largest as the oldest as well, the papa lions of the pride schooling the younger, thinner trees on what it takes to grow big and strong, to be a proud Redwood.

I don’t know what it is with me and nature hikes though. Whenever I attempt one, the rain starts to fall. I turned back from the longer trail when the sprinkles started to be more than the occasional drop on my nose, changing to regular dots on my waterproof jacket. I decided to stick it out though on one of the shorter paths, but unlike the Queen Charlotte Track the foliage hadn’t grown together above the path to create a canopy so the rain fell unhindered. Once my stocking hat had soaked through I said ‘no thanks,’ returning to the information centre as soon as I could. Even then it wasn’t until I was walking the paved mile back to the main road that I felt the familiar feeling of water seeping into my sneakers a little at a time, starting at the toes where you hope and pray it will stop, but once it starts it never does. It just continues working its way down to your heal until you literally squish when you walk. I’ve said it before, but hopefully not again; I need new shoes before my next trip!

So it was decision time. I had plans to see a much larger glo worm cave in Waitomo, and had already seen a concert. Even though I had seen a pair of Kiwi birds the day before, the idea was still a draw as they really are quite cute. They’re also very rare in the wild, only living in certain areas of the country like the farm outside Kerikeri where I stayed. Most people see them at breeding places like the one on the tour because in addition to being rare, they’re nocturnal. Places like Te Puia trick them into thinking the day is night and vice versa using tightly climate controlled environments as accurate as possible to their native habitats while keeping the birds safe from predictors and easy to spot for tourists. They’re flightless birds, large ones, with bodies the size and shape of a volleyball covered in brown material more like fur than feathers. Protruding from their head, like a baseball attached to the volleyball, is a long beak that looks like a wide straw that narrows until reaching the tip, which they use to snort up insects and worms for their dinner. The story is that the birds developed to take the role of mammals around the world that perform similar functions. There were no mammals native to New Zealand, but once they were introduced the Kiwis met their first predators and have stood on the brink of extinction for decades. Along with the silver fern, they are the national symbol and identity, so they’re now protected and conservation sites go harvest their eggs, incubate them hopefully ensuring greater survival rates before reintroducing them back into the wild. However, I went with what was most against my instincts and chose the spa.

The Polynesian Spa more specifically, has signs as you enter proclaiming it one of the Top 10 spas in the world, but that wasn’t why I chose it and have done no independent research to confirm their claim. Once I made up my mind I even decided to get really crazy, splurging on a honey skin treatment/massage that came with the private pools included in order to prepare the skin for your chosen treatment. Even when I splurge I look for good value! From the moment they provided a sea green fluffy bathrobe upon checking in, a smile curled my lips like I had a secret and an occasional giggle, usually a sign of pent up silly excitement, escaped past them. This despite my eternal mortification (I honestly can’t believe I’m admitting this) that they also provided a black one piece hopefully wholly sanitized swimsuit as I had forgotten my own blue green bikini at home despite knowing I was going to a thermal pool town. I thought I couldn’t possibly BORROW one, but the spa was the only place in town that sold them this time of year and the only cute one didn’t come in my size! I actually totally forgot about it. I could have been wearing a clown suit underneath and the robe would have made it all right. The one size fits all approach left me feeling like a child dressing up in her mother’s clothes: safe and secure, but I had shake my hands free from the extra foot of sleeve in order to pick up my water bottle as I headed out to the pools. I have definitely underestimated the necessity of a quality fluffy bathrobe in my life, something I may have to rectify soon.

I forgot from my tour earlier in the day that most of the pools were outside, which was important as the rain had not stopped from that afternoon. There were four pools to choose from for my presoak, opting first for a cooler one at 38°C and the only one covered by a green pyramid shaped roof. Even then, the wind blew the cold rain into your face on occasion as your body soaked in the toasty warm water. The water was perfect; warm, but not so hot you had to get out exposing yourself to the elements to catch your breath and cool your body temperature before re-submerging. The second pool at 40°C did require it, but a beautiful rock grotto gave shelter from even the blowing wind off the lake just past the landscaped hedges.

Despite the toasty pools, I couldn’t relax completely. I kept checking my watch to see if it was massage time. Finally it was, so I dried off, donned my robe and work my way down to that end of the building. I won’t bother describing the massage itself. If you haven’t had one yourself you should definitely give it a try once in your life, but ooh the smells. I’m such a visual person that sometimes I forget I have a nose. Maybe that’s why I can survive on such bland food. It’s only when I walk past a Body Shop with scent so thick it’s like walking through fog that I really notice it. I found out at a girls pamper evening for work that they have special scents they burn in the back to draw you in. I always thought it was just the products themselves, but either way I won’t complain.

Getting back to the massage, the sweet, sweet smell of honey saturated the air in the small room. If that wasn’t enough, hot oils add a scent of their own as they soak pure moisture into your skin, then wiped clean by hot towels giving my body a complete warmth it always craves but rarely gets to enjoy. I’m not sure my skin enjoyed the full magnitude of the moisture as I could see curved patterns of oil playing on the surface of the water above my legs after sinking back into the pools. However, I did get the full magnitude of 30 minutes of relaxation nearly falling asleep on the table where my masseuse left me. I spent another hour soaking, but the water in my chosen pool seemed hotter this time. I could barely stand it a minute before perching on the rocks that lined the sides or sprung up like islands in the middle. I didn’t find out until I had almost finished that the temperature has risen to a whopping 41°C, but at least then I knew I wasn’t going crazy. I finished my time in my now cooler grotto alongside a pair of Chinese tourists before heading in to shower before my night bus. Definitely not a bad way to spend an evening.

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