Rotorua - Now with Pictures!

Oh wow - I can't believe how far behind I am in updating this blog! Oh well - I'll keep plodding along :-) ...... Pictures added 3 Nov. (slack as!)

18 September - Thursday
On Thursday, 18 September I woke up early in my tent (5:30 Am!). I got my gear together before the rain, which had woken me in the middle of the night, began again. After packing up my car, I decided the day might just clear up into blue skies after all. So I left beautiful Lake Rerewhakaaitu and headed towards Rainbow Mountain, just 1/2 hour or so South of Rotorua.

Rotura is currently, and historically, an extremely active geothermal area. Natural hot streams and lakes flow through the area, all the way to Taupo (where several volcanoes reside). The heat of the earth is released through vents in the ground too, so where there is no water to boil - steam can be seen coming straight out of the earth! Some areas release gas in bubbles under pools of mud - creating awesome mudpools. The whole area is really quite neat. Heat tolerant algae creates a painters pallet of color in most areas.

I honestly can't remember why the soil of Rainbow Mountain is so multi-colored, but it isn't the heat resistant algae. I couldn't find any info on the web either :-( I think the soil just has various minerals in it that turns it colors. Sections of the trail I walked were pure red clay, with shots of white running through it - very beautiful. The fairly easy trail gave me beautiful views of the colorful mountain (it's Maori name is "Maungakakaramea", meaning ‘mountain of coloured earth") as well as the lake below. Pictures just can't do any justice to the place, but I'll post a few anyway :-). Sections of the mountain are still hot enough that very little vegetation grows. I was able to walk over rocks through scrubby areas with white steam venting around me. Really cool.

Apparently the view from the top of the mountain is great - you can see all the way to the mountains of Tongariro National Park (where I went snowboarding), but when I reached the top of the mountain on this morning I was pretty much in a cloud! The patches of blue sky were gone and a mist was coming down on me. I could see some of the houses and lands at the base of the mountain, but anything far away was a white fog. While I did put my rain jacket on at the top and on the way down the mountain, I didn't really get wet as it never really rained - just misted and sprinkled. The sun was out in patches by the time I reached my car again! I was totally confused about what the weather wanted to do!

I still had a day and a half to kill before meeting Roberta (Bobbie) and her mysterious "mate" in Rotorua, but I decided to go into town and check it out before deciding what I wanted to do for the day. Downtown was populated with parking meters, so I drove out a ways and found free parking in a nearby reserve (park). Imagine my surprise when I found steam vents and bubbling pools (both water and mud) fenced off along the pathway! I knew Rotorua was in the heart of the thermal activity, but I didn't know that the thermal activity was in the heart of Rotorua!

I went to the information center and picked up pamphlets of all sorts. At the DOC (Deparment of Conservation) side of the center I was able to get a nice brochure of regional hiking and camping spots (for some reason the super nice lady gave it to me for free too! I was totally willing to pay the $3). I then went and checked out Rotorua Central Backpackers to reserve my room for the weekend, but when I arrived I decided that I would just stay in town for the night too. There were no camping spots nearby (in the woods at least- there was a "holiday park" in town) and, after 4 days without a shower, I was ready to be clean and get some laundry done. I walked back and retrieved my car to park in the hostels free area. I arrived at my car just in time for the drizzly rains to start - making me glad I had decided to stay!

I spent the rest of the day happy to have clean hair and fresh clothes. As the rain pelted down every so often, I was also glad the hostel had a dryer too (rather than just lines to hang your clothes on). In the evening, when the rains had mostly stopped, I wandered around the town - checking out the shops and buying essentials - like sunglasess! Finally! It had been MONTHS since I had worn sunglasses!

Now - I had been warned about Rotorua. Like many geothermal areas - Rotorua is high in sulfur. Apparently sulfur is a major component in the gas that bubbles out of the steam vents and hot pools. Therefore, I was warned that Rotorua would not smell good! I must say that, all in all, the town really didn't smell that bad. However, every once in a while a breeze would shift just in the right way to assault your nose with the smell of a leaking sewer. Ugh! Funnily, the first few times these breezes hit my nasal passages, I always happened to be opening my car door at the same time!!! I kept asking myself "What in the heck died in my car?". Unfortunately, the smell wasn't caused by a mass of dying ant bodies (yes - the ants are still with me! more on that much later); fortunately, the smell wasn't coming from my car at all! It was just part of the " charm" of the town :-)

Sulfur build up around vent

19 September - Friday

After a relaxing Thursday in Rotorua, I woke up bright and early Friday morning full of excitement. I was meeting Bobbie and friend around noon and then Dave was arriving that night. I kept myself busy until Bobbie's arrival by chatting the morning away with a Japanese girl and then walking around Lake Rotorua's "Sulfur Bay", only a block or so away from my hostel. A person could wander around for hours in the constantly branching trails of scrubby brush, steaming vents, and the occasional areas of sewage smells (okay - maybe not "raw sewage" but definitely some raunchy eggy fart smells). Eventually, I wandered back and found a free 15 minute parking spot across from the bus stop.

Bobbie and her friend, Rachel, were greeted in Rotorua by a local Maori group performing a haka. It was quite cool, Rachel was impressed - particularly with the one guy in a suit surrounded by 2 guys and 2 girls in full costume! It was pretty funny.

As soon as the girls got off the bus, I was on girl time. Rachel and I got on immediately, and Bobbie started asking me questions about my adventures since I had seen her (near 2 months ago!). I was a total motor mouth the entire drive to their hostel (she didn't even know about my dolphine swimming adventure!!!). We spent the entire afternoon giggling and talking and just having a great old time together. Initially we were just going to wander around town - checking out the park I had found and what not - but they had left their raincoats in Auckland and I mentioned it would probably rain eventually.... So, if we were going to get wet in the rain, we decided we might as well be sitting in some hot streams too.

So, we went back to my hostel and changed into "swim costumes" (yes, they actually use that term!). I asked the hostel owners about their recommendations for hot streams. I knew exactly where the two spots they mentioned were located - as I had passed or walked to them the previous day. So, off we went.

I took them straight to Wai-o-tapu stream. I had parked here 2 days previous, thinking I would find trails through thermal activity (as the sign had said Wai-o-tapu thermal Wonderland). However, after 1 minute into the bush I found the trail ended at a stream and had bathers in it. Oh! When we arrived this day, there were a few cars parked so we expected to see a few other soakers. However, we were not expecting to see NAKED soakers!!!! :-O

After making a quick exit, despite one guys nice invitation to "come on in", we laughingly walked up the trail in the other direction. We encountered only one other naked person before finding a spot on the stream that was accessible and free of nudity. Bobbie was skeptical about her ability to reach the stream (the dirt bank wasn't THAT steep!). Rachel assured us that the water was fine (as the further upstream you go, the hotter the water becomes). Bobbie had finally slid down to join us by the time I actually put my hand in the water. Whoa!! That was hot! I'm pretty sure you could boil a lobster in it! Bobbie confirmed that it would definitely be to hot for her to sit in too. So, I hopped up the bank and gave both girls a hand back up to the trail.

Back in the car, I drove the loop road past the actual Wai-o-tapu Thermal Wonderland (where, for a fee, you can see cool geothermal formations/activity: including a geyser (I hear it is soaped for regularity) and famous "champagne pool" (mom and I definitely have to go there!)). I drove us straight to the FREE boiling mud pools. I had checked them out 2 day previous, after my short non-hike to the stream, and couldn't believe how cool they were! I had spent a lot of time mesmerized by the sounds and sights of the bubbles bursting on the pond of mud and couldn't wait to share the experience. Oh man, I was not disappointed in the girls reactions! Their excitement was completely contagious, and soon I found myself screaming and laughing along with them. Particularly when a lot of gas would come out at once, spewing mud for a full minute and making crazy gurgling/glugging sounds!!! It was so, so, so fun. None of us minded the drizzling rain at all - we were so enthralled!

Eventually, after a good 20+ minutes of watching the boiling mud, more people arrived - totally ruining our private party. So, we got in the car and I drove to Kerosene Creek. I hadn't checked the area out, but had driven past it during part of my constant backtracking 2 days previous. There were several cars parked already. We passed one guy already soaking in the stream - thankfully we were not able to tell if he had shorts on or not! We kept walking down the stream, looking for a good access point where we hoped to be by ourselves - or at least not around naked people! Eventually came across a lovely place - a big pool just under some waterfalls. Apparently this spot is quite popular (hence the link to an internet photograph), as there was a ladder built into the side of the creek bank - making it very easy to get out without getting dirty.

We had a really good time soaking in the pool. It started raining shortly after we arrived - drenching all or Bobbie and Rachel's clothes (I had put mine in a plastic bag), but making for a cool atmosphere. Eventually, we all turned into prunes and decided to get out of the water during the break in the rain. When I dropped the girls at their hostel, I lent Rachel some spare pants, as she had packed light and hers were now completley soaked. I spent the beginnig of the evening sharing stories, pictures, and dolphin videos with the girls while I waited for Dave to arrive in Rotorua - he was driving from Thames after work (about 2 hours away).

Dave and I had a lovely evening together - finally getting to the sushi date we had missed 6 weeks prior, when the Tauranga restaurant turned out to be closed on Sundays! We did his first experience with sushi right: ordering several different varieties of sashimi (raw fish only), nigiri (fish on top of rice), and more traditional rolled sushi (encased in nori (seaweed)). I had to have him try sake too! Since we were both still hungry, we also ordered some actual cooked food - vegetable tempura and teriyaki unagi (eel). Dave was a sport and tried some plum wine too. I think he was pretty surprised to find that he not only liked the experience, but enjoyed the eel too - though I think he'll pass on the sake and wine next time, sticking with beer instead :-) He also would have given any other white person envy as he managedto drop only one bit of food before getting the hang of chopsticks.

We popped our heads into a pub on the way home, having a beer and catching the end of a rugby game - NZ Vodaphone Warriors continued their winning streak. The Warriors are a different NZ rugby team than the All Blacks - rugby union (All Blacks) versus rugby league (Warriors); same game with slightly different rules and playing tactics.

20 September - Saturday
The nice thing about having Dave drive down to meet me was that I no longer had to drive everywhere!!! Dave ended up chauffeuring us girls around for the next 2 days. Mint! (kiwi phrase).

While the plan for Saturday was to go Zorbing, we all decided to start the day by checking out the thermal park in the center of town first - a mellow morning before spinning down a hill in a giant hamster ball! However, the morning turned out to be less than mellow - as it actually started out with Rachel and I having a "playground race". I have no clue who's idea it was, but Dave and Bobbie got great pictures of Rachel and I climbing to the top of a wire tower and running back. Neither Rachel nor I reached the actual top. By the time we were close, there were so many kids on the equipment that we were both a little worried about hurting one of them. So, we both decided to just head back down. Rachel was sure she was going to win, since she was closer to the bottom when we started down. So she was quite surprised when she hit the bottom and saw I was already running towards Dave and Bob! To ensure that I was the true winner, I allowed myself to look like even more of a dork by completing the 5 jumping jacks at the end! Ha ha ha, it was awesome!

After "the great playground race", we all wandered around the Saturday market - looking at crafts, baked goodies, and fresh flowers. I decided to buy a jar of jam, and then realized I hadn't even brought my wallet! Well, what are boyfriends for? Unfortunately, my boyfriend doesn't carry cash around - so I had to borrow money off Bobbie too!! Anyways - we toured around the thermal activity spots fenced off in the park. There were several mud pools, but none were anywhere near as cool as the Wai-o-tapu ones. Oh yeah, and we hung out in a tree for pictures (I think it's a rhododendron?)!

Eventually we worked our way back to the car and headed off the main reason we were all in Rotorua (well, at least the only reason Bobbie, Rachel, and I were in Rotorua - Dave was only there because I was ;-)) --- ZORBING!!!!

Zorbing was AWESOME. There are 2 ways you can Zorb: 1) strap in by your waist, wrists, and ankles and roll down the hill in a dry plastic ball; 2) get into a big plastic ball, have warm water added (cold water in summer) and roll down hill while sliding around in water. Rachel was intially sure that there was no way she would be doing either - she was convinced she would be to clautraphobic. However, by the time we reached the place she was just as amped up as Bobbie and I; and we were both sure that we were doing the strapped in version. We met wiht a glitch in our plans when we were told that we would only be able to do the water version of the zorb - high winds had caused the last person going down the hill (strapped in) to overshoot the stopping point and bounce back! Yeah - sounds like a ton of fun to me, but apparently it's a massive safty hazard :-( So - once you decide your going to be rolling down the hill in an oversized hamster ball full of water, your next choice is weather you go down a straight hill or follow a zig zag course. Well - zig zag for me, thank you. The other option on the water filled zorb is that you can go with your friends, unfotuntely that only applies to the straight down hill version :-( While my friends were okay with me doing a solo zig zag, they really wanted us to all go together - so, I gave in and did the group girlie thing. Dave stayed below and took pictures.

Well - neither of the girls had expected to get wet, so none of them had spare clothes - let alone swimsuits. Luckily, I had brought along a spare outfit and was already wearing my swim suit (hey, it never hurts to be prepared). Rachel had brought along the pants I had lent her the day before, so she wore those in the water, along with her jacket: she ended up looking like she was going to spend the day sledding rather than playing in warm water. Bobbie borrowed track pants from Rachel (i'm not real sure wear those came from) and a shirt from me; she looked like she was out for a warm day of chilling out. I wore my swimsuit: making me the only one with bare legs in the group - and boy are they WHITE!!! I kind of wish I had just worn my long pants, but it was one less thing to dry out later.

The whole experience was really, really fun. The guys working the desk, van, and entrance/exit were really fun and easy going. We gave them a bunch of shit for having such an easy job - but of course, the laid back atmosphere gets a little stressful when you literally have hundreds of people lined up fresh off the tour buses and eager to get their turn in a zorb!!! Ugh, no thanks!

Back in the car, and in dry clothes, Dave started back towards town. While he hadn't spent much time in Rotourua in years, Dave's family used to vaction at the family "bach" (2nd home) when he was a kid - so he knew about some of the local activities. He recalled a couple of mazes in the area and Rachel took to the idea right away. When we arrived at the maze made up of wooden fences and bridges we listened attentively to the instructions (well, some of us listened - others (Rachel...) texted). There were 2 starting entrances, we were to go through the maze and find all 4 corners of the maze and then exit the same way we had entered. We decided to split into teams and race through; losers bought the winners ice cream! I honestly can't describe how much fun it was. It probably would have been tame and a bit boring if we weren't racing each other, but it was a ton of fun to spy the other team through cracks, knots in the wood, and bridges. Rachel and Bobbie tried to claim that they had won - but they exited the wrong way! After some good natured arguing about where we were supposed to exit, etc, the truth came out - they had only found 2 of the 4 corners anyway! Dave and I won!

After the maze, we decided to check out the Redwood forest. We picked up some picnic supplies and had a feast on a rock in the grass before heading up the steep section of trail that led to a nice lookout. I kept telling Bobbie she looked absolutely bored, standing next to a big rock and spacing out. Then she told me she was just fascinated by the first forest she'd ever been in!!! What??!! How is that possible?! Turns out, the island she grew up on in the UK didn't have any forests and there were no woods near the area her parents now lived. I was so stunned - especially since she had told me the day before that she was going to accompany her new boyfriend to S. America and follow him through jungles!!!!! Wow! So on the way back to the car, I had Bobbie get off the trail and walk through the actual woods for a brief section - no trail, just dirt, roots, and branches. It may have been short, but I think she liked it :-)

Next, we just drove around. Dave took us to the lookout between Blue and Green lakes. Supposedly the color difference is noticable, but to us they looked quite similar - it may have been the time of day, or the time of year. Dave was adament that there truely is a difference between them. I was disappointed that the view point didn't offer more of a view. Green lake is privately owned, so maybe they don't allow trimming of the bush - but it's fairly hard to compare color when you can barely see the lake! Next we continued driving. We stopped at another lake (have no idea the name) with a jetty and a cafe/shop. Rachel and Bobbie paid up thier ice cream bets and we all watched the fearless black swans beg from us. Eventually, the warm day started to cool down as the sun faded and we headed back to town. We all ate pizza and drank beer that night as we recounted our adventures and downloaded photos to my laptop.