What did we do on Sunday? We WALKED & WALKED.
A shuttle picked us up from Crash Palace at 9 am and drove us to the Wai-o-tapu Geothermal Reserve, about 30 minutes outside the town of Rotorua. We arrived with enough time to watch the daily eruption of the Lady Knox Geyser, one of the site's main attractions. The history behind the geyser is really interesting, and if you're interested, I suggest you read up on it! :) The coordinators of the geyser trigger the eruption everyday at around 10:15 by putting a soap-like substance into the mouth of the geyser! I won't write about why that is because it'd make this entry really long, but it's a really interesting story! Anyway, the geyser can reach up to 20 meters high depending on the day and the amount of water that has accumulated in the geyser over the previous 24 hours.
Next, we drove to the actual geothermal reserve and began our 3 km walk around the area. It was really well mapped out and it was really neat being able to see the results of all the geothermal activity happening in the area. There was sulfur everywhere and we were always reminded by the smell, but everything was soooo neat and we'd never seen anything like it. There were pools with bright blue and orange, bright yellow rocks, caves, boiling mud, and a whole bunch of other stuff. You need to see the pictures to see how amazing it was! If you ever come to NZ, I definitely reccommend you do this walk. It took a couple hours, but it was totally worth it. There were professionals photographers who just sat at some spots the entire day taking pictures of the different sites.
Next, we went to Waimangu Volcanic Valley. It was another walk, yet took much longer. We walked through a large valley filled with lakes, and panoramic views of the area. It was a lot more foresty and condensed by plants, but there was also a lot more wildlife at this place. There was an area at the end of the hike especially made for bird watching. We got to see geese (the daddy goose was making a nest for the mommy goose to lay her eggs.) There was also a ton of different types of birds, some of which were native to New Zealand. One area of the walk allowed us to do an optional hike up the side of the valley. We all decided we would do the hike regardless of the sign at the beginning that said "This hike is not for unfit people." It was a pretty tough hike. The mountain was pretty steep and so were the stairs, but it was beautiful. Logan was having a pretty hard time, and so was Kamakana- he kept asking when we would be finished. I don't think he was enjoying the hike very much! haha. When we got back to the information desk at the beginning, Logan told the lady, "You can take down the sign that says 'not for unfit people' because we just did it!" haha!
We got back to Rotorua at about 4:00, and Kamakana caught the Nakedbus back to campus at 5:00 that evening. He had class the next morning and didn't want to miss it. Logan and I hung out around town and went to the local park which had geothermic ponds and footpools!
The next morning, we caught the bus to the Skyline Rotorua site and went luging! We rode on a gondola up to the top of the mountain where the luge tracks were. As we were going up, we could see all of Lake Rotorua as well as most of the city. It was beautiful! When we got to the top, we each got a helmet and went on our first luge ride down the "scenic track." This track is designed for beginners (or newcomers)- it's not as steep as the other tracks and allows you to get used to how the luge works! It was really fun! There were three different tracks: scenic, intermediate, and expert. We got five luge rides and did 2 scenic, 2 intermediate, and 1 expert. Our favorite was the intermediate track and it seems to be the common favorite among most people. It was a lot faster than the scenic track, but not as fast as the expert. There were some sharp turns, tunnels, and hills, but it was really fun! Logan made me try the expert track with him, and I'm happy to admit that I am NOT an expert at luge. It was soooo scary! The turns were so sharp and were nearly vertical, the drops were very steep and the luge went way too fast! I nearly lost control a few times, but I'm happy that we did it at least once. I'll just say I'm an expert because I completed the track ... alive! :) But this is another one of those things that you HAVE to do if you ever go to Rotorua! A greeeeat experience! It's a really awesome family activity to do!
We had a few hours left before we were supposed to catch our bus back to Hamilton, so we went next door to Paradise Springs Wildlife Park. It was sort of like a zoo, but a lot of the animals were free to walk, waddle, swim, and fly right around you. There was a native birds section, a section of introduced animals, a trout viewing area (EW! I've never seen a trout before & let's just say, I've seen better looking fish), a kiwi viewing area (this was so neat! We got to see REAL kiwi birds walking around playing with the leaves in their "home"), and a bunch more. One of the other cool things we got to see here was the tuatara, which is a lizard that was alive during the dinosaur age! It looks like a komodo dragon or something, but is very special to New Zealand. A very cool experience!
That was our time in Rotorua. I hope you enjoyed reading about it; we had so much fun. It's our favorite place here, SO FAR!
Pictures from Day 3&4:
Wai-o-tapu & Waimangu
Paradise Springs
**our luging pictures are in the album with Zorb and Agrojet!
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