New Zealand
Mood:
happy
Okay, so the deal is, since we are going to Italy next, and we really don’t have time for an end-of-tour vacation, we figured we’d better do New Zealand now, so we don’t end up missing out. I booked the flights and the hotel, Kimberly did the research, and we were off!
The trip went from 3-9 October. We left Canberra, drove to Sydney, flew to Auckland, then drove to Rotorua, a town centrally located on the Northern Island. We stayed in Rotorua, which is to say that it’s where we slept each night. We did what we usually do, and went on a series of day trips from there.
What a fantastic trip! I’m going to try to convey the details and such here, but I’ll be honest up front and say that I’m not sure I can do it justice. –And there is no way I can fit all the appropriate pictures into this blog! But I’ll do what I can...
We stayed in a Hostel in downtown Rotorua. Yes, a Hostel. It was really nice, considering! We stayed there because it was located right on Lake Rotorua and was close to the market areas and the main tourist restaurant/shopping district. That being said, we had no idea the Hostel was hosting the Jamaican Music Festival our first two nights there. We fell asleep both nights listening to live music.
We spent the first day in and around Rotorua in order to explore our surroundings and see what there was to see. Rotorua, itself, is a tourist hot-spot because of the geo-thermal activity throughout the town. There are entire areas in the town that are constantly steaming from the ground, or have constant boiling water or mud in sulphur pits around the parks and some housing areas. There were entire neighbourhoods built on top of some of these hot-spots which provided the residents’ heating needs throughout the cold seasons.
We had heard going into all of this that the whole town reeked of sulphur. Well, yes and no. We smelled it, but it really wasn’t bad.
We hit the markets, found a carnival, walked through the geo-thermal springs, went through most of the souvenir shops, and really just had a fantastic time. In the afternoon, we decided to drive out to the Bay of Plenty to have a look.
This rock is solid jade, and was available for purchase for a mere “a couple million dollars.”
The next day we went out to Waitomo. Now, for some background, Waitomo is Maori (native Kiwis) for “The place the water enters.” It rains a lot there, like most of New Zealand, but there are also vast cave networks throughout the region. These caves are tourist attractions, since they are actually filled with Glow Worms. To be fair, Glow Worms are actually Fungus Maggot Larvae, but hey, who cares, they are pretty anyway! We went on a guided tour of one of these Glow Worm caves and it was amazing. Imagine seeing a starry sky on a pitch-black country evening. You know, the kind of sky that makes you think, “Wow, I’ve never seen that many stars before.” Now imagine that same starry night on the roof of a cave. It was like a night sky over rough terrain. I’ll include a picture, but really, it can not do it justice...
Also in Waitomo, and actually before the caves trip, we went to the Shearing Shed. It is the only place in New Zealand that raises and shears Angora Rabbits for their fur. They had over 300 rabbits, each with a name, and none of them EVER harmed. Even when the rabbits died of old age, they are buried, not eaten or skinned. Every six-weeks or so, each rabbit is brought in and sheared and then the fur is made into yarn. That yarn is then used to make all kinds of stuff. The funniest thing about this is that the rabbits don’t seem to mind any of this. They lie still for the shearing. They stand still on the podium for pictures. They don’t mind the tourists petting them, endlessly. Hilarious. The funny part is that during the shearing, each bunny is “stretched.” They have these little bungy cords that get attached to each leg and it stretched the rabbit so that its skin isn’t wrinkled. Once flat, the shearers won’t catch on skin and hurt the rabbit. And I’ll say it again, while hilarious to look at, the rabbits didn’t seem to mind it, not one bit. Funniest thing, ever!
We went from the Bunnies to the Otorohanga Kiwi House, a sort of small zoo that actually has Kiwis (the birds, not the people or fruit) on display. There were other animals as well, but it was mostly about the Kiwis. We weren’t allowed to take pictures of them, though.
Then we went to the caves.
After Waitomo (in the evening) we made a sprint against time and foul weather to the Pacific Ocean beach. On good days, when there is enough time, you can dig a shallow hole on the beach, which will then fill with hot water (geo-thermals, again). BUT, this water will burn you, so you have to dig close to the ocean, so that when the waves come in, they spill into the hole and cool the water down. We didn’t get to do this, because we were late and it was STORMING out, but we did get to walk out onto the black sand beach and see the Pacific Ocean.
The next day we went out to see the Aratiatia Rapids and the Huka Falls. This was cool! I’ll start with the falls first, because there isn’t much to say about them. It’s a neat area where 250,000 liters of water per second is “squeezed” into a small amount of space and shoots through a fairly narrow, natural canal. Pretty impressive, though not really a waterfall, per se.
The rapids were something else, entirely! Basically, the town has this dam. Opposite the dam is a rough valley, mostly made up of large boulders and rocks strewn about. Four times a day, the town opens the flood gates on the dam, seriously flooding the entire valley! Then they close the gates, the water subsides, they wait a few hours, then do it again! I don’t know why, but they do, and it’s amazing! Seriously, I took a little over 100 pictures of the valley getting engulfed in this tidal wave of water.
The next day, we went to the Agrodome on the outskirts of Rotorua. This was to be our “Extreme Sports” day. First, we viewed sheep! Then, we really did get extreme with a visit to the Extreme Free Fall facility. It is exactly what you are thinking...A HUGE fan that blows enough wind to pick the person up and simulate sky-diving. Kimberly, Jacoby, and I all did it. Again, HUNDREDS of pictures. Kimberly got the t-shirt.
After Extreme Free Fall, we headed to the Zorb. If you’ve seen the Jackie Chan flick “Operation Condor,” you’ve seen a Zorb ball in action. That’s the thing that looks like a giant hamster ball that Jackie rolls down a hill and flies off the cliff. If you haven’t seen it, no worries. It’s really a giant, inflatable hamster ball that they toss you into the middle of, and then push you down a big hill. There are four ways to do it. There is the Straight Down or the zig-zag course, in either a wet or dry Zorb ball. In the dry Zorb, they strap you in and go end over end until the ball stops. In the wet ball, they actually put a bunch of (warm!!!) water in the ball with you, which allows you stay pretty much on the bottom, sliding along like a water slide as the ball goes barrelling down the hill. RIIIGGHHHT! I went end over end anyway, just a-spashin’ and laughing the whole way. We went with the Wet, Zig-Zag option. This time, Jacoby and I got the t-shirt.
The last full day we drove out to Napier. Napier is on the east coast of New Zealand, and is where they grow all of their grapes for New Zealand wines. It’s sunny 300 days a year, which is a striking contrast to the rest of the country. It was a BEAUTIFUL drive through the mountains to get there! That being said, we had three things on the list of things to do in Napier. One was to visit Opossum World, where they make all kinds of stuff out of Kiwi Opossums, which are CUTE little things, not like the American variety you are thinking of. The next thing was to visit Napier’s Classic Sheepskins factory and watch them make prepare and cure sheepskins for a variety of products. (No, Jamey, there was no blood or meat of any kind in this factory. It was all very clean and family friendly). The last thing was a stable in which to go horseback riding on the beach for a few hours.
We made it to Opossum World, which was much smaller than we’d imagined. Not much goin’ on there. Then we went to the Sheep Skin Factory, which was actually pretty cool! We went on the tour, bought some stuff, then headed off for the horses. They are not there, anymore.
Okay, so one-for-three on Napier, but again, it was the best drive we had on the Island. Really terrific views over typical (re: beautiful) New Zealand terrain.
The next day (our last), we packed, and drove back to Auckland to catch our flight. We arrived early enough to play a round of mini-golf, which Jacoby was pretty serious about wanting to do. Then we flew back to Australia!
Once back in Sydney, we decided to hit the Blue Mountains prior to coming home. We drove out from the airport, spent the night at the 3 Sisters Motel (fine livin’ after the Hostel!!), and woke up ready for a hike. It took us about 3 ½ hours to walk the trails, and I would recommend them to ANYONE! –As long as steep, natural stairs don’t bother you.
The walk started with a view of the 3 Sisters rock formation. Then we headed to the “Giant Stairway” which took us down into the valley. Seriously. No exaggeration. It took us half an hour to get to the BOTTOM of the stairs. Amazing! Think Frodo in the last Lord of the Rings. It was THAT kind of stairway. Once on the bottom, we walked along roughly 2KM, past a terrific waterfall, saw a few more waterfalls, then ended up by the Blue Mountains Railway. This railway boasts “steepest railway tracks in the world.” They take you from the top, through a tunnel, and then down the rock “cliff” to the bottom. It’ll also take you to the top, if you’d like to avoid the OTHER set of stairs...The ones that take you back to the top. We’ll have none of that! We headed off for the stairway and it took a little over an hour to reach the summit. Granted, we stopped and took a LOT of pictures.
Please note the stairs in the middle of this picture. All of these shots where taken on the way UP the stairs.
Then we found our way back to the car and drove home.
It was a great trip! -And also our last major get-away in Australia. We have another week-ender coming up, but I’ll write about that when we get to it...
Enjoy!
Posted by kisajaja
at 11:47 AM MEST
Updated: Saturday, 11 October 2008 12:27 PM MEST
