Stinky Christmas
Trip Start
May 22, 2005
1
101
107
Trip End
Jan 22, 2006
Loading Map
Rotorua,
New Zealand
Monday, December 26, 2005
Rotorua is the birthplace of zorbing. Zorbing is where you roll down a steep hill inside an inflatable sphere. We made our way out to the zorbing centre and signed ourselves up. There are many options when it comes to zorbing. You can go strapped in or free form. You can choose either dry or wet. Finally, you can go as a single or double. We decided on the kinky sounding free form, wet, double. Our instructor took us to the top of the hill and explained that if we could stay upright for the entire ride down the hill that we would get a second ride free.
One at a time we took the requisite running start and jumped superman style through the small opening in the zorb ball. Once inside, the chamber is filled with warm water. Then they dim the lights and start the music . . . just kidding. You actually walk the ball to the lip of the hill and against your better judgment you launch yourselves over the side. We didn't stand a chance of staying upright; instead we are now intimately aware of how clothes in a washing machine must feel. At the bottom we emerged from the zorb ball clean and exhilarated from the spin cycle.
In order to get in the festive mood, we went to the local dollar store and bought ourselves some Christmas decorations. We got tinsel for our hotel room and reindeer ears for ourselves. We even set up the desk lamp as our Christmas tree. We also decided to stay in for Christmas Eve dinner and so we went to the local grocery store. We would take hotel gourmet to the next level. With some imagination and magic we assembled a feast of juicy roast chicken with apple cranberry stuffing, baked beans, cherry tomatoes and mashed potatoes. For dessert Mel made a delicious trifle with vanilla cake, lemon yogurt and strawberries. So in our little hotel room on the other side of the world we celebrated as a family the coming of the King.
For Christmas day we wanted to relax. We booked ourselves into the famous Polynesian Spa. We both signed up for a full body mud wrap followed by a full body massage. Before we received our treatments we had free use of the four rock pools that overlooked Sulphur Bay. The four pools had graduated temperatures ranging from 36 degrees Celsius to 42 degrees Celsius. We soaked in the medicinal hot baths, got our full body mud wrap, enjoyed the massage and left the spa as tension-free jelly globs.
That night for Christmas dinner we attended a traditional Maori hangi feast. The hangi is an earth oven--in other words, all of the food is placed in a pit lined with hot rocks. The pit is then covered up and the whole delicious concoction is allowed to cook underground. Before dinner we watched a display of traditional Maori dancing. The most fascinating was the Haka--the warrior dance made famous by the New Zealand All Blacks. The Haka is meant to intimidate and frighten. It basically consists of making the most hideous face you can muster while sticking out your tongue and beating yourself. Overall very entertaining.
Being away from Vancouver and our extended family during Christmas was difficult, but we definitely felt we made Rotorua as much as a home as we could. Merry Christmas.
