Rotorua

Ok, so it is time to get back to the holiday posts and hopefully get them finished off for you... (I suspect very soon ALL blogging time will be taken up with posts like the previous one. Me? Getting stressed about unmade decisions? Never!)

Warning...I may have gone a little crazy on the picture front...(Note: GRR! I've just published and blogger's made all the comments on photos go squiffy...see the bottom of the blog for explanations!)

So...

Rotorua, city of boiling mud and the luge...at last Pom will get her explanation!

We were very lucky in our timing of being in Rotorua - it was hot and largely cloud-free. Obviously, that is nice anywhere but in Rotorua it is a major bonus. You see, cold, cloudy days really keep the smell in. The bad egg smell. Because of all the geothermal activity round the town, it can really pong of sulpher. The last time I was there, you could really smell it coming and each day required a certain amount of adjustment to be able to cope with the smell. This time, you just got the odd whiff sulpher.

On our first full day in Rotorua, we went to Hell's Gate. A mass of boiling mud, erupting mud volcanoes, sulpherous fumes and steaming pools we had much fun wandering around looking at it all.

We also got to try our hand at carving traditional Maori designs at the end - Husbink was by far the best of us showing that he really could be a carpenter if doctoring ever got too much. They were also selling corn on the cob that had been cooked using the thermal steams. Very tasty! (Which may come as a surprise after all this talk of bad eggs...)

We then made our way across town to a Kiwi Sanctuary. We'd hoped to get on a tour of the breeding areas but they were all full for the day so instead we just went round the enclosures of various birdies. You'll be relieved to hear that I'm not so excited by taking pictures of birds in cages and so despite all the wonderful things that were there, especially the kea, I'll not bore you this time!

At the end of the little walk round, there is a Kiwi enclosure. I was keen that everyone else saw a kiwi but I wasn't too fussed - I saw one eight years ago and it hadn't exactly thrilled me, this tiny little bird sitting in its corner. So in we went and adjusted our eyes to the false night time. And there they were, two fantastically lively, comedy kiwis. One was busily building a nest and the other was desparately trying to distract her. They had been separated and we (in our infinite knowledge about such things) guessed that maybe she really was building a nest and was ready to lay eggs and he really wanted to "help her on her way". I think the kiwis I'd previously seen had been one of the smaller varieties too as these guys were really pretty large.

So after all that excitement, we made our way next door to the gondola and the luge. We all went up in the gondola but couldn't persuade mum to have a go on the luge. What it is...well, you put on a bike helmet, climb into this little plastic cart, grab onto the bike bars in front of you, yank them towards you...and away you go! They have a number of tracks at Rotorua from Scenic (i.e. slow and winding and not very steep) to Advanced (in places VERY steep, includes a jump and very wiggly). I was by far the slowest of the three of us - though I figure that means my fun lasts longer! At the bottom of the tracks (about half way down the gondola you come up on) there is a chairlift that takes you and the cart back up top. A very slow chair lift. Had it been a skiing holiday with a chairlift that slow, I think we would have gone mad. But it did take me and dad back to the days of the extremely long t-bar in Austria...but that's a whole other story...

The following day involved a leisurely morning of mooching in Rotorua and walking along part of the lake front before making our way to the spa. Oh yes, we spent the afternoon at the Polynesian Spa and oh was it good. After a couple of hours of soaking in the thermal pools (and a cheeky break to enjoy some carrot cake...), I went and had a Pumice-Aix Combo... Basically, I got covered in exfoliating rub stuff from neck to toe and then had it showered off as part of this crazy water massage thing they do. Mmmm, so relaxing! The only problem was, I found that some parts of me turned out to be rather ticklish under the jets of water!

And then it was time to return home. We took the parents via Taupo and showed them the Huka falls. We almost managed to resist taking any more photos having taken so many last time we were there...

We stopped a couple of times on the way down but for nothing too dramatic and ultimately made it home in time for tea. :)

Photo Comments:

1. Steaming pools at Hell's Gate

2. All the family - note attractive boots/skirt combo

3. In the midst of all the boiling mud and steam was an oasis of beautiful bush

4. Proper boiling mud

5. First proper play with the new lens...a pied stilt enjoyed the thermal waters!

6. Having decided against the bird shots, I moved on to the tree ferns

7. Us in the gondola...Husbink asked us to grimace for him...I think Dad did best...

8. A pukeko near Lake Rotorua