It stanks!
Trip Start
Aug 07, 2008
1
64
79
Trip End
Ongoing
Rotorua,
North Island,
New Zealand
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
We arrived here knowing that we wanted to do 3 things: 1. Zorb! 2. Sheep Shearing Show and 3. Maori Cultural Performance and Hangi Dinner. So we made our way over to the local i-site and booked all three plus our accomodation for the next several nights.
Now the Zorb is something that I've been wanting to do for a long time. It was pretty pricey for how long the whole activity took, but i think B would agree with me and say that it was worth it. Zorbing was invented by a guy in Rotorua about 10 years ago. It's a simple concept. It's a huge clear-plastic bubble with a smaller bubble inside it, and the smaller bubble is filled with warm water in colder temp and cold water in hot temps! So basically you jump/slide into the smaller bubble, they zip you in and push you down a hill. I'm pretty sure that the both of us were laughing and screaming the whole time down (which took about 45 seconds)! Definitely a fun, wet, washing machine like experience!
Number two was the sheep shearing show. Before I go into the show let me tell you a little bit about the population here...there are about 4 million people and 44 million sheep!!! Now tell me that's not a lot of sheep. You see sheep all over this country...and so this show was something we definitely wanted to experience. The show was filled mostly with families and tour groups but it was still fun nonetheless. They had about 15 different types of sheep on stage, some sheep herding dogs, a cow (which B got to milk!) and last but not least the sheep shearing. These guys make pretty good money for nz...they get about $1.50 for every sheep and can do an average of about 300 sheep a day! After the show we got to pet all the animals, including all the babies!!
Number three is probably one of the biggest attractions here in Rotorua (minus the geysers, hot springs, and bubbling mud) which is the Maori Cultural Performances accompanied with a traditional Hangi dinner. There are several places that offer this and we chose one of the newer ones, Te Po, since it came with a walk down to Te Puia Geyser. I went to this show not really expecting much, but let me say that it knocked my socks off! Their voices were absolutely fantastic!! (I would have bought a cd if it wasn't $40!). We got to see a lot of their culture....we learned their dances, the Haka!, their greetings, traditions, songs, ways and beliefs. Definitely worth the money and something you should do if coming this way. After the performance we got to see how our hangi meal was prepared before eating it. When you usually come to these shows you expect food. Not great food, maybe decent food, but you don't expect great food. We got Great food. Our dinner came with an array of local sauces, breads, oysters, mussels, pork, lamb, chicken, fantastic salads, and even a bigger and grander dessert table! It was a great dinner. After dinner, we walked towards the geyser and got to experience it at sunset..which made it even more amazing. All in all, it was a great night!!!
I have to say that Rotorua is known for their geysers, hot springs and an array of thermal pools everywhere you go. We opted out of paying an outrageous amount of money to go to a spa, but enjoyed the free one that was at our holiday park every single night! One thing that came with purchasing the Maori performance was a free entry to Hells Gate! (Don't worry moms....don't take it literally, it's just the name of one of the geo-thermal parks in Rotorua!) It was pretty hot there, but the sights were amazing...just take a look at the pictures and let them speak for itself!
