Rotten Rotorua!!
Trip Start
Jul 27, 2008
1
52
63
Trip End
Jan 21, 2009
Rotorua, North Island, New Zealand
Monday, December 15, 2008
Howdy from the smelliest place on Earth!
No, not my sock drawer but Rotorua! This place is officially closest to the Earth's crust and therefore layers of volcanic rock and sulphur mix with the air and produces a somewhat eggy smell. There is also lots of steam venting from various parts of the city and natural hot springs are everywhere.....although if you do go in them, you smell of fart for about three days afterwards!
We has fun again on the way here as the Kiwi Experience bus dropped us off at an old abandoned Iron Ore factory complete with railroad tunnels and suspension bridges! Heather was very brave and went across all the bridges and she is getting better at travelling in all manner of transport. We had fun in the caves and were thankful that I remembered to pack a head torch as the tunnels were pitch black!
After a short walk we piled back on the bus and drove on to Hobbiton. This is where the Lord of the Rings cast and crew stayed whilst filming the epic. We had our touristy piccy with a somewhat crap sculpture of Goleum before once again piling on the bus but not before Heather stumbled across one of the strangest signs in a loo - see the picky!
Whilst staying in Rotorua we signed up for a Maori cultural night where we visited a reconstructed village complete with a battle re-enactment, a Maori dance and an all-you-can-eat roast dinner. The dinner was cooked underground in a pit over a 8-hour period using nothing but volcanic rocks and it was amazing!! There was every meat you could possibly wish for and mountains of spuds and veg. (They even did steamed pud for afters!)
Our rather eccentric driver John was a great laugh although he did repeat everything to us about three times before he was happy that we'd taken in what he was saying!
We learnt about the history and how they lived and it was probably one of the best nights during the 5 months we have been away.
On our final day we visited the very beautiful and extremely smelly Government Gardens. This is where the locals come for a bit of R+R. with thermal spas, mini-golf and of course lawn bowls. Unfortunately it was far too hot to stay out in the sun and so we ventured back to our rather swanky accommodation to hide from the smell and rays.
So enjoy these piccys as much as we enjoyed the Maori night
Until next time peeps
J & H xx
Comments
Eggs!
Well eggs smell the same the world over.. Even the sulpher ones. maybe buy fresh next time.
Brenda.