We bid farewell to Queenstown and headed to the airport to catch our JetStar flight back to Auckland. We rented a little Mazda 3 from Budget and headed out on our way to Rotorua. Rain and traffic prevented us from getting there by 3:00 pm to see the Volcanic Valley. When we finally got there, it was raining too hard anyways to be able to enjoy the walk.
So we drove back to city centre and checked
into the Newcastle Motel, dropped off our stuff and headed out to dinner. We had heard of a good restaurant called Bistro 1284, a so-called "high-end" restaurant in Rotorua. As it was still early, there was only one other table in the restaurant when we arrived. We chatted with them for a bit. They were dairy farmers from outside Rotorua. Looked like they were doing well for themselves judging by all the food they ate and wine they drank. They were very nice, as is everyone we've met on our travels through New Zealand. Since the restaurant won an award for best beef and lamb, we ordered the filet mignon and the lamb shank and Eric had a nice glass of local pinot noir. Both meals were very tasty. We enjoyed the meal very much.Afterwards, we walked around town for a bit and checked out some souvenir shops. We also got some ice cream from a local convenience store. Since we were pretty pooped from the drive, it was a relatively uneventful day. We drove back to the motel and called it a night.
Day 72 - "Waterlogged" - North Island - Rotorua, New Zealand
Today, we went to the Wai-O-Tapu Thermal
Wonderland. As this part of New Zealand is under several fault lines, there is a lot of thermal activity that occurs in this region. Many volcanoes have erupted causing various craters - some of which have turned into lakes. Beneath the ground is a system of streams which are heated by magma left over from earlier eruptions. Water is so hot (up to 300 C) that it absorbs mineral out of the rocks through which it passes and transports them to the surface as steam. Wai-O-Tapu is one of the places you can go to see the effects of these natural phenomena. It is also where Lady Knox Geyser, a 150 year old geyser, is located that was discovered about 100 years ago by some prisoners. As it was set to go off at 10:15, we headed out early to catch the action.
The park is about 20 minutes south of Rotorua. We got there with plenty of time to spare. Unfortunately, it was another wet rainy day. We got to see the geyser erupt (set off by some soap stone). It wasn't as amazing as we suspect Old Faithful to be, but it's pretty cool. Apparently, there are only four countries that have these geysers - US, Russia, Japan, and New Zealand. Cool.After the geyser blew, we hiked the four km around the park and saw lots of bubbling, steaming pools of mud and multi-colored water. It was pretty cool how the colors in the water indicate what type of mineral is in the water - sulfur (green), antimony (orange), silica (white), manganese oxide (purple), iron oxide (red-brown), etc. Unfortunately, it was raining a lot so the day wasn't as clear to see all the awesome sights. We don't think the pictures did the colors justice.
Afterwards, we drove to the East of Rotorua
to go sledging. Sledging is also called River Surfing. You hold this buoyant sled looking thing with your hands and you go down the river. We were expecting a leisurely swim down the river. It was a bit more intense than we had anticipated. First off, you had to carry this 20+ lb sledge about one km up and down hills and stairs. It was impossible for me to do, so one of the river guides graciously offered to carry mine for me. We had to hop over a fence and then jump into the river. It was incredibly warm but gushing faster than we expected. It took a lot of kicking and sheer grit to get to where we needed to go. After going over a few waterfalls and drinking a lot of water, I was completely waterlogged and tired. Eric and I were ready to go home. We now know why it's categorized as an "extreme" sport.
After that crazy experience, we needed to slow the pace down so we checked ourselves into the Polynesian Spa and soaked our sore muscles in the alkaline and acid-water thermal pools. It was glorious. It was also interesting because it was a melting pot of nationalities - Americans, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Austrian, Middle-Eastern, etc. After an hour, we were all pruney from the day's activities. We took a nice hot shower and then went to dinner at Seismic.
After another tasty dinner of rack of lamb and rib eye, we went to a few souvenir shops and then called it a night.
For pictures of the day, go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=eric.chang1&target=ALBUM&id=5411265926431771969&authkey=Gv1sRgCL2D29zr6baCcA&feat=email
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