The sights and smells of Rotorua.

Rotorua
Saturday, September 20

Saturday did not disappoint. Our curtains were pulled aside to reveal a bright sun and blue sky. Jamie and I both showered and got ready quickly in time for our 9 a.m. pick-up, when we were scheduled to head out to Wai-O-Tapu, Rotorua’s “Thermal Wonderland.”

On the way, the bus stopped at a large mud pool, where we were able to get out and watch (and smell) the bubbling mud. From there, it was off to Lady Knox Geyser for her eruption at 10:15. The geyser, one of the most famous in the area, is basically situated in the middle of nowhere – just a cone of mineral-covered rock jutting up out of the bush. A semi-circle of wooden benches has been built around the geyser, and they were roughly half full when we arrived around 10:10.

A park worker came around to tell us the story of the geyser’s discovery (It has to do with dirty prisoners bathing in a natural hot spring. When they added soap into the water over the geyser, it erupted.), after which he added some soap-like substance to the geyser to help her along. On a regular cycle, Lady Knox would erupt every 24-48 hours, but, being a tourist attraction, she has to erupt every day.

The eruption was actually pretty cool. It wasn’t loud like I thought it would be. It was actually fairly quiet. The water, clear and steamy, went up roughly 10 meters. We were told it would retain that height for quite some time. I don’t know why, but for some reason I never realized how long a geyser eruption lasts.

Jamie and I spent some time snapping photos, but we were due back at our bus at 10:30.

From there, we made our way to Wai-O-Tapu, where we were given about an hour and a half to explore the thermal park on our own before our bus would pick us back up around noon. Jamie and I wasted no time. There are three tracks to hike through the thermal park, and we intended to do them all.

I’ve never seen anything like Wai-O-Tapu before. I’ve seen thermal activity before, but not like this. There were mineral deposits and bodies of water in colors that I didn’t even know existed. The smell of sulfur accosted our nostrils at every turn, but there was too much to see to turn back. We walked through smoking canyons and sulfur clouds and past craters of all shapes and colors.

One of the first really impressive things was called the Artist’s Palette. It’s a large flat expanse near the famous Champagne Pool where pools of turquoise and daisy yellow water appear. Apparently, the pools can move around, based on the chemical makeup of the area. Pretty cool!

Jamie and I walked all the way out to the furthest point of the park where a small waterfall empties into a green lake. On our way back, we skirted the Champagne Pool. It’s likely that you’ve seen a photo of it at some point – it’s a steaming hot water pool of blue-green water, ringed by rust-colored mineral deposits. Luckily for us, the wind was blowing, and we were able to see the edges of the pool through the steam.

On our way out of the park, we passed what was possibly the strangest natural thing I have ever seen. It’s called Devil’s Pool, and it’s a large, still pool of lime green water. The sign said the color ranges from yellow to green based on the mix of sunlight and cloud cover on any given day. When we were there, with a bright sun overhead, the pool was electric lime green. My camera did the real thing no justice whatsoever.

After picking up some postcards and lunch at the park’s gift shop, Jamie and I caught our bus back into Rotorua. We returned to the i-site and booked zorbing for the afternoon. While we waited for the activities shuttle to pick us up, Jamie and I puttered around near the i-site, taking photos in every red phone booth we could find.

Just before 2, we hopped the shuttle out to the Zorb hill. In case you’re unfamiliar with zorbing, picture this: You dive into a rubber contraption that greatly resembles a hamster ball, water is added in, and then you are pushed down a large hill as you slip and slide around in the ball. That is zorbing, and that’s what Jamie and I were out to do. You can also do it without water, or strapped into the inside of the ball if you really want to make yourself vomit. Jamie and I, however, decided to do it wet (that’s what she said).

Zorbing may not really sound like fun. And, in fact, as I watched other people roll down the hill, I was hoping I hadn’t built the whole experience up into something more fun than it was. However, as Jamie and I dived into the zorb ball were we to share, I wasn’t so worried. Even before our mad adventure down the hill, neither of us could stop laughing.

The laughing continued all the way down the hill as we slid around in the ball with no idea which way was up. I don’t think I’ve ever done something so random, or so fun.

At the end of our run, we were both “birthed” from the zorb. If you could see it, you’d understand. You come out of the zorb feet-first along with a splash of water. The zorb employees, snapping pictures as Jamie and I slid out, still laughing, announced, “It’s a girl!” for both of us.

Jamie and I composed ourselves, and eventually changed out of our wet clothes. We watched a few more people come down the hill (many of them on the 1-person zig-zag zorb path), and then decided to stroll down the street to Agroadventures to wait for the shuttle back into town since we had about 40 minutes to kill.

Agroadventures, along with the Agrodome, is situated on a working farm. At the Agrodome, tourists can watch sheep-shearing shows, along with sheep dog demonstrations. Agroadventures, which is where Jamie and I ended up, consists of the Agrojet (a mini jet boat), the Swoop (a giant swing-like contraption) a bungy jump, the Shweeb (I’m not sure how to explain it… it’s like a mini race track where bike-like contraptions are suspended from a monorail track), and the Freefall Xtreme (one of those reverse skydive things where you are suspended in air above a giant fan).

Jamie and I weren’t really planning on trying anything since we only had half an hour to kill. But we were really intrigued by the Swoop. Once we figured out that there was no line and that the whole thing would only take about 10 minutes (and only cost $45), we decided, why not?

We went down to the platform, and got zipped into what looked and felt like body bags, side-by-side. We were then lifted by a crane at least 100 feet in the air – possibly more. Jamie and I both agreed that it was scarier than bungy jumping, because you had the whole way up to realize how far you had to fall back down.

Once we were dangling at the top, it was up to Jamie to pull the cord to release us. As we were given the thumbs up, I think we were both wondering whether she would pull it or not. But she did. I don’t think either one of us was expecting the free fall that we felt, and we both screamed our guts out (but not our hearts).

After the fall, we began swinging over the green farmland. I was laughing, and Jamie was trying to decide – slightly seriously – if she had peed her pants a little. The Swoop workers had fun with us, taking photos and swinging on the end of our body bags as we sailed by.

The whole thing was over in less than 10 minutes. We left the platform, laughing and legs somewhat shaky, and went back out front to wait for our shuttle. As we were picked up, some guy was about to bungy jump. He was standing at the edge of the platform, arms out, not jumping. Jamie, deciding he just needed a little encouragement, hung out the door of the shuttle and yelled “Jump! Jump! Jump!” I think it through the guy off, but, he did eventually jump.

Once we got back into town, Jamie and I decided to kill time before dinner by checking out the government gardens. Being still the tail end of winter, however, there wasn’t really much of a garden to see. Apart from a few tulip patches, the garden was pretty bare. But the walk was sunny, and the Rotorua Museum building in itself was worth the trip. We also found another red phone booth along the way.

After the gardens, Jamie and I decided on the Pig and Whistle for dinner. We probably should have known better. The night before, we had stopped outside to look at the menu, and two separate old men had invited us in and offered to hold the door open for us. And I’m not talking about cute old men on scooters. I’m talking about creepy old men. But we were hoping that, at 5:30 on a Saturday, the restaurant/bar would be creepy old men-free.

Well, we were wrong. (Obviously, otherwise that whole previous paragraph wouldn’t have been necessary.) Throughout our meal, a group of men near the bar kept pointing and laughing at us. At one point, one of them came over, sat in the chair directly behind Jamie, and pretended to take a phone call. While this was going on and Jamie was asking him why he had to be so close to her, another of them was outside the window, making faces.

The man on the phone returned later to “apologize,” and his window friend tried to help him out by bringing over a wilted flower in a beer bottle as some offering of penance or something. Neither of us were impressed, and we left as soon as we’d finished eating.

After dinner, Jamie and I returned to our hostel to drop our wet clothes off. Along the way, the most spectacular sunset started, setting the scattered clouds ablaze in pinks and oranges. As soon as we got to our hostel, we decided to set out again for the lake, hoping to catch the tail end of sunset.

But our dramatic power walking didn’t quite cut it, and we missed the good bits. The lake, however, was bustling at that time of day with families walking, kids running around the playground, and teens playing impromptu games of rugby.

The black swans were also out again in force, and I stumbled upon a sign that made me burst out laughing. Anyone from ONU can understand and agree, I think.

On our way back from the lake, we stopped at Subway for cookies (for me) and the gelato place (for Jamie). Then we went back to our hostel again. We entertained the idea of trying to go out that night, but our jam-packed day, by then, had caught up with us. We crashed on the couches again instead, watching “Ray” until we could no longer stay awake.



P.S. – 10 points if you can pick out The Office references in this post.