Friday was another long day - we had signed up for a tour to Rotarua, another city about 3 hours South of Auckland. Again, we were up early (5:45am) but this time, Quinn didn't complain. I'll explain why later on in this post....
We were met at our hotel by Bill, a driver of a little white shuttle bus. Now, on the last tour, there was a shuttle bus that picked us up at our hotel and drove us to the Coach Station to catch the coach we took up North, so we thought this was going to be the same deal. Wrong! The shuttle bus in front of us at 6:30am was the bus we were going to be driving in all day. We all shared a look amongst ourselves that only said one thing, "yikes." Nonetheless, we hopped into the bus, picked up the other 2 in our group (a couple on their honeymoon from Ireland. At least we couldn't complain about a large tour size!!) and began our journey south. Our first stop was a coffee break in a coal-mining town called Huntley. From here, we stayed in the vehicle for another 2 hours before reaching our destination, the Maori Village with a super long name that I won't (and can't!) write. We jumped out of the vehicle and almost died - the smell was SO powerful. And it smelled of sulphur/rotten eggs. Basically, Rotarua is built in and around active geothermal vents - that leech out sulphur. This is essential to the Maori people (the indigenous people of NZ) since they use the heat from these vents to heat their houses, cook their meals and bathe. It was so interesting to see the village like it was 100 years ago - our guide said nothing has changed. It also was crazy to see steam coming up from holes in the ground nearly everywhere....the entire village seemed to be covered in thick smoke! From the photos you can see that they have quite the set-up as far as geysers for cooking, others for bathing....as well, Dad and I are covered in one photo from just standing next to a vent!
Our morning activity was a trip to the geothermal spa, Polynesian Spa. Here, we found out that this spa is rated amongst the top 10 in the world under the category of "Geothermal Spas." We had entry for about an hour to over 7 pools, warmed to 40-42 degrees and either alkaline (for aches and pains...aka Quinn) and acidic for the skin. Quinn, Dad and I bobbed around each separate pool, soaking up the sun and just fully relaxing. It was truly spectacular, and as Dad said, one could have easily spent an entire day at the spa alone.
But this could not be done. We had lunch to eat back at the village, a Maori lunch traditionally cooked in the geyser steam, then we headed into the city for some quick sight-seeing of the various Government Houses, the Lake and another park where volcanic activity was seen a mere 6 years ago! I have multiple photos from these events that will be posted on facebook, but I want to save space for photos from the next activity, which Quinn deemed the highlight of his ENTIRE trip in NZ AND Australia.
Zorbing.
For those of you who don't know, or think I just made up a random word, zorbing is an activity where an individual is placed inside a large, plastic ball and rolls down a hill. Think of a human-sized hamster ball and you get the picture. Well, the afternoon's main activity was a chance to get inside one of these balls yourself and roll down a hill. Quinn and I readily hopped inside individual balls, and took a zig-zag path down the hill. We had 2 choices up at the summit of the hill - we could do the zorb dry, meaning we were strapped in and went head over heels, OR we could choose the wet option. We both chose the wet option, meaning water was placed inside the ball with us to make us slip and slide and stay relatively upright the entire way down.
It was epic. SO amazing. I never knew 30 seconds could be so much fun - but it was. The ball was massive, and getting in and rolling down the hill, trying to stay upright but slipping the entire way, getting totally sloshed around and bouncing on the sides....SO SO cool. Dad managed to capture a couple shots in action, and we bought some other photos that were taken by the company. Again, I have too many photos to upload here, so if you want to see more, check out facebook or see me in Calgary.....
After drying off and hopping back into the van, (and Quinn swearing that it was the best minute of his LIFE) we headed back on the motorway towards Auckland, with a quick stop at the Kiwi house to see the native bird. The Kiwi bird is a nocturnal and forest-dwelling creature, so without this stop, it was highly unlikely we would come across one in the wild. We weren't allowed to take photos inside the house, but we took some outside with another kiwi....hahaha.
The it was back on the bus, driving another 2 hours straight and arriving into Auckland just before 7pm. It wasn't quite as long of a day, but certainly more packed with various sights, activities and the like. We spent the evening packing up, eating leftovers and reminiscing about a great trip.
Quinn and Dad have been in the air now to Honolulu for 2 hours, and I'm sitting inside my nice hotel room, catching up on emails and these blogs. I imagine these blogs will soon come to an end...probably another couple on my flight home, and then one or two about my initial thoughts on being back in Canada (I warn you now, those will be slightly manic depressive). It seems so crazy that only a month ago I was meeting up with the family in Sydney, and I can't believe all that I've seen and done. Amazing.
Anyways, I am going to sign off here, try to load some photos and then take a nap, order room service and see what trouble I can get up to alone in a hotel room under Dad's credit card. Beauty!
Stay tuned and keep your eyes peeled for the next post - one that will most likely be written on Canadian turf!!
xoxo
No comments:
Post a Comment