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Smelly city
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Our bus driver to Rotorua was a very chatty one who insisted on us calling him Matt instead of Matthew. He told us where every single person on the bus was getting on and off and if we were going to Rotorua we'd have to leave him there (you think!). He then proceeded to play tour guide & point out various places of interest. On arrival in Rotorua we walked to the hostel & checked in and had a good nosy about the place. We then went out for lunch, checked out the shops and tourist information. Despite the weather we decided still to go to the Polynisian spa which has thermal pools with a water temperature of 41 degees, apparently it is supposed to be very refreshing in the rain and it was!! Once in our swimwear we ran into the first pool as it was a bit parky in the open and breathed a sigh of relief as it was nice and warm. Soon it became rather hot but you could lift your arms out and it was nice and cool outside so it was fine. After we sat in that one for awhile we moved to one with a lake view and a load of seagulls!!!! who got regurly frightened off with a sprinkler. As it started to rain a bit more heavily we moved to a pool that was undercover and it was actually a few degrees cooler. After we sat there for a bit the rain didn't seem to be easing so we moved to another one undercover and chattedto a random ozzie guy who used to be a random pommie guy. Soon we became hardcore and braved an uncovered pool in the rain it really is quite refreshing better than doing it in the summer when you're too hot anyway!!! Then we went to the big pool where you can actually swim, here we were accosted by a random guy called Michael who attempted to guide us into a philosophical conversation (again Mum this is why we are single!). First he tried to guess what we did at University, then what our names were and finally where we saw ourselves in 10 years time. After he left us we decided to go for one last dip in the lake side pool alas we had been in there for 2 1/2 hours and it took it's toll on me (Aimee) and I became sick and dizzy so Sarah had to shove me under a cold shower. I sat in the changing room for a bit still feeling a bit off when a big indian lady in her underslip asked me if I was ok which was nice of her even if it all felt a bit bizarre. I managed to get changed and we went for a drink which made me feel much better. We had a look around the gift shop and then decided to go to the cinema to watch the Bourne Ultimatum. After the film we crashed out in the dorm only to be awaken by 4 drunken lads coming back to their beds at 4am!!!
Next morning we got up early to get Dave's minibus to Wai-O-Tapu thermal wonderland. After pointing out various sites on the way our first stop was some mud pools which were bubbling happily away as I kept missing it throwing mud in the air after a zillion attempts to take a picture I took a small video clip instead that you can all see. Next we went to Lady Knox geyser which erupts daily at 10.15am. The man there explained about the history of the geyser then dropped a bar of soap in which is how they get it to erupt promptly at 10.15am every day. Then we were dropped off at the thermal wonderland where we had a wander through various thermal pools of all sorts of colours and mud pools. There was steam rising up everywhere, one lake you couldn't see as there was that much steam. The only down side was that due to all that sulphur it was very stinky. After we were dropped back in town we had lunch and then walked through the government gardens past their museum which was in a stunning georgian style building, past croquet lawns to the princes gate of the park We then walked to have a look at the lake and sat actually writing this blog for a bit admiring the black swans which were everywhere, as well as seagulls we had trouble finding a clean bench!!! We then went and looked at the mauri church and gift shop. After a plannig session for south america we went to an indian BYO restaurant for tea and very nice it was to before returning to the hostel to chill.
The next day we hopped onto a minibus to the agrodome, our first stop was to go zorbing which is basically throwing yourself down hill in a plastic ball with water in. After we paid we got changed into our very sexy and free grey and orange t-shirts and shorts. Next we hopped into another minibus up to the top of the hill and ended up being the first ones to go. The guy told us to jump into our ball headfirst like superman, naturally I attmepted this but only got myself halfway in then he had to push me in. Soon Sarah crawled through and joined me and the man added a bit more water. Then he counted to 3, tapped us and me and Sarah somehow managed to push oursleves forward and began hurtling down the hill at full speed. We were both screaming and falling all over the place with water sloshing all over the place, it was like being in a washing machine. Soon it was all over and we were left giggling and wet in a heap at the bottom of the hill. We posed for a photo and then had to come out of the ball feet first which was not the most graceful of dismounts. We had our photo in front of the ball including us jumping in the air (see photos on this blog). We got changed and got our photos before being driven to the sheep show.
The host of the sheep show was the skinniest and most campest sheep shearer we have ever seen. First he asked us where we were all from and then brought on one sheep at a time , 19 different breeds were soon on stage (I never knew there was that many different types). He explained about them all and then did a fake auction with the audience the chinese guy that "bought" the sheep didn't seem to know what was going on. Next came the sheep shearing poor thing didn't look very impressed with becoming bald, then came the great duck dog basically as we were on a stage there wasn't enough room for the dog to herd sheep around so they used ducks, a very bizarre sight indeed. Next a cow was bought on stage and members of the audiance went up on stage to milk the cow. Then the guy once more asked for volunteers and I threw my hand in the air not knowing what I was volunteering for, but I had missed out milking the cow and wasn't going to miss out again. So I and 3 others went up on stage and next minute all these little lambs came on stage and I was given a babies milk bottle to feed the little lamb, it was soooo cute. After the show we went outside to watch the dog trials where this time sheep were used and with some difficulty (naughty sheep) the dog herded them around the field, through a fence, over the bridge and into a pen. After looking in the shops we caught the minibus back into town and had lunch in the park before going to Starbuks for a cup of tea and to finish planning south america. That evening we went for one last dip in the spa though not for as long this time before getting takeaway pizza and watching LOTR pointing at the screen and saying been there or might have been there to no one in particular.
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Latest Comments (2)
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?? (reply)
Sep 5, 2007 14:56 EST by southern-fairy
Thermal spa and problems finding a bird un-visited bench? Sounds to me like you're actually in Bath. Me too!! Where're you staying? Oh.
LOVING the Zorbing photos - they used to do that on the hill behind the village me and the wife lived in while at Towers and no-one could work out what was going on. Couldn't understand why there was a huge polythene ball rolling down the hill all the tim... show all
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Looks like fun!! (reply)
Sep 4, 2007 22:11 EST by annebrignall
Thanks for the photos, will have to tell Karen about this one girls, she and Vic can go hurtling down hillsides inside a big blow up ball!! I'm sure they will LOVE it!! :-) The thermal pools sound amazing too.
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