Friday, April 23, 2010
It was warmer than the entire trip so far when we woke up to the alarm at 8:00. I can’t believe we slept that long, but I guess with the night before, its not surprising.
First stop was the National Aquarium. It was the kind that I like, theres really only one direction to go through the whole museum, so you know you aren’t missing anything. And it was kind of small, but really well done. You could see all the animals up close (too close if you ask me, but NZ seems to not care about being sued for kids that stick their hands in shark tanks). Lots of animals, big and small turtles, a crocodile, sharks, manta rays, cray fish, seahorses, eels, and lots of different fish. Then the last thing was a huge thank with different sections, but you could go into basically there was a tunnel that ran under/through the tank, so you could stand on the moving walk way, and go through and see all the fish to the sides and up above you. The sharks and rays were the coolest in that area.
A scuba diver came down and started feeding all the fish other pieces of fish that he was breaking up right in front of the glass. He picked up a crayfish, fed it, and then was aacting like it was his pet cat, he was a funny guy. He did a cell phone underwater bit, napping and blowing perfect o-bubbles, blew up a balloon to go to the top.
Now we are slowly meandering our way to Rotorua. Its sad, but I find that I see the beautiful landscape and don’t want to take pictures anymore. Its like, I feel like I have photographed it a million times. And the problem is, that it looks different and different areas, but I feel like I have photographed it all already, and therefore don’t bother. But I SHOULD, but its hard when you see it 10 hours a day, and feel like you already have that picture, even though you might not.
We arrived in Rotorua, and went straight to the Zorb site to check it out, in hopes that we could get it done still that day. There was almost no one there. It looked small from the bottom of the hill. They pick you up at the bottom in a jeep and haul you up, and they say its bumpy. But this was another ride all in itself. I am convinced that the waiver you sign is actually for the ride up the hill, not the ride down.
At the top of the hill it looks a lot steeper, and I got a titch bit nervous. Especially when the way into the zorb, is to run and dive through the whole. Only they lay a rubber mat over the seam, so I totally got stuck. I felt like an idiot. But one shove and I was in. The water was already in, and I got the tap on the ball, and crawled toward the front. It was awesome, your body is flailing everywhere. When you are backwards you feel like you shouldn’t be going backwards so you try to twist around and you flail uncontrollably even more. I loved it. Backwards and forwards and you feel like you should be at the bottom, but you aren’t, you just keep going. And then you are stopped basically by running straight into a hill, and they open it up and take your picture right away. Tim came out of his ball and it looked like he had the same blast that I did.
With 2+ hours left to kill before the show at Te Puia, we figured we could kill a few birds with one stone. We each got half an hour at an internet cafe. Tim booked the Bella Vista in Hamilton for tomorrow night, and because we booked it online we got a better rate, so that was positive. And we knew that it had laundry and free internet. How can you not love the Bella Vista?
Checked in at the camp, and that was when we first realized that the entire town smells awful. With all of the thermals and vents and things, the entire town smells like sulfur, no matter where you go. Its pretty gross. But we totally dug this camp (despite the smell) because the lady was super nice and told us about the farmers market tomorrow, the bathrooms had paper towels, and we could park literally right in front of the strip of bathrooms and kitchen and things. Yay.
When we got to Te Po for the night’s events, Guy came out and introduced to the Maori and the Jade Stone in the middle of the columns. We entered the Maori grounds, and our chief was picked. He was told what to do when the warrior came out of the Maori building and challenged whether or not we came in peace. It involved picking up a leaf and backing up, and theres nose touching involved. I was worried we would all have to do it. But all the warriors came out, and women too, and there was some singing while we stood outside and waited to enter the building. We were welcomed in, and had to all take our shoes off, as well as women weren’t allowed in the front row. 
There was the speech and then a few long songs, interspersed with a poi dance (and then women brought on to be shown how to dance), more long songs and warrior dancing. The warbling really got to me every once in awhile, I just wanted to eat! They did the Haka which was really cool to watch, and quite amusing to watch them try to teach it to a bunch of German men. At the dinner, on the table was some sauces, bread, water, and a shot glass of some honey/plant liquid. It tasted like very flat and watery 7up. A blessing was said, and the starters came out, and we could go to the buffet. Tim and I went to the buffet first. Pasta salad, shrimp salad, crab leg meat, seafood chowder, a sweet potato soup, oyster, corn salad, it was all delicious. I didn’t really have any of the starters, more weird seafood, including eel. Then the main foods came out, chicken with stuffing, lamb (which was way overcooked), and pork (which I didn’t have). And then three types of potatos. One was soooo good. I wonder what kind it was. And then there was the dessert. I skipped the ice cream, strawberry topping, and fruit. But took sweet bread with sauce, cream puffs, chocolate mousse, some fruit pudding thing, and PAVLOVA. I understand why everyone loves it so much. Its very much like angel food cake, but somehow without the cake. It was strange.
After we ate, we were directed to head to the geysers, a bit early, because they were erupting early. We headed down the pitch black path, which was a little unnerving, you couldn’t see a single thing. And then I somehow saw a solid black kitty with white paws on the track. We got to the geysers, which were actually really pretty cool.
We could get quite close, and at night, with the lights, it was quite pretty. But then I saw the kitty again and went to play with it. It went to drink out of the geyser! I wanted to snatch it to save it, but it clearly it was fine and came back to play. When Guy got there, we got to sit on the hot rocks and watch the geysers while we drank hot chocolate. The sitting rocks were really hot, we had to move to a cooler section at one point because my butt was burning. Guy ended the evening with a song that he sung (he clearly likes to sing) and then we made our way back down the path. I was so full!
Back at the camp I went to explore the facilities that we didn’t use, and of course, on the one night we aren’t really at camp, it has an immaculate and detailed kitchen, and the tv room is warm and has leather couches and a tv with a dvd player. It was 8:45, and not time for bed with that much food in my tummy. Once the van was ready for bed, we came to the tv room to watch the first episode of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. Once actually ready for bed, we figured it was too much work to try to figure out the dvd player, but we might as well finish Astroboy, did, and went to sleep. No idea what time. Little after 11 is my best guess.
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