Whitianga to Rotorua
Trip Start
Aug 01, 2007
1
12
91
Trip End
Jan 11, 2009
Rotorua,
New Zealand
Thursday, August 16, 2007
I just spent 2 days in Whitianga, we drove from Auckland. On the way, we stopped for a walk at Cathedral Cove, which was beatiful. only accessible by boat or foot. We for some reason missed out on digging a little pool at the Hot Water Beach, which was a bit of a disappointment. Not too much exciting happened in Whitianga, other than on the extra day i took, I did a bone carving necklace. It was a pre-cut peice, however you used a dremel drill to round then edges, then LOTS of sanding!
Today i caught the bus again with a new group of people. We stopped briefly at the Martha Mine, which was not too exciting really, and then did about an hour long walk through the ruins of an old goldmine type building. It was pretty cool, going through some looong, and some dark, tunnels.
in the afternoon, a few people did zorbing, which is being pushed down a big hill inside a big ball thingy filled with warm water. I decided I could go without this as I have spent so much already! And spent lots more elsewhere today. Two others from the bus and I went to the Polynesian Spa, which basically was a bunch of thermal pools. left our skin with a nice aroma of rotten eggs! but apparently the pools are good for the skin, and muscles.
We just arrived back not too long ago now from a Maori Hangi and Concert. It was fantastic. I actually purchased the "combo" ticket, which means I will attend another similar event in Christchurch. My thinking was that if mom & dad come for a visit, I'll try and time it so we can go see that in CHCH. It was definetely worth the money tonight (and I ate way too much food, but I figured I better get my moneys worth!). You could tell they are really passionate about presenting their traditional stories, songs and dances. And it was nice to get some veggies!
Tomorrow we are on to Waitomo. I will probably do a caving activity there, then on to Taupo the next day. I will spend some time here, firstly as my east cape tour departs and arrives back into Taupo, and secondly I'll hope to find some work. I was thinking of looking for a job in a coffee shop however, and it looks like Wellington has loads of jobs of that sort so maybe I will end up down there. I also heard today that the ferry crossing between the islands is VERY rough, so I am rethinking if I might splurge and fly!!
XOXO
Shawna
Comments
money!!
Shawna, I love reading your blog. It gets me excited (and sometimes more anxious) to get there and see things for myself!
One question.. on the tours (Kiwi or not), do they include a lot of those extra activities, or are those extras that you have to pay for out of pocket? I'd be interested in doing one, but not if it means paying another few hundred on top of the price of the ticket
it adds up!!
Well, they do a lot of walks etc, however there are a ton of options that do cost additional, like tons of adventure type activities in Rotorua, the Maori concert, glowworm caves and the thermal park. It does definetely add up. Check out Magic Bus tours or stray, they are cheaper than Kiwi (Magic in particular).