So for those of you waiting on the edge of their seats to read about the rest of my trip (mom), here is the day after the tongariro. now you get pictures!
The day after our crazy adventure in Tongariro National Park we filled our day with fun. On the way to Taupo I made us stop to take this picture. The area is known for skiing and somebody actually drew those on. From the highway driving at top speed (which for me was usually around 70 or 80 - those twisty roads are scary) it looked like the sign had been made this way. And in the backgroud are the mountains we hiked up the previous day.
Then we went to Huka Falls. I was talking to a guy from Christchurch when we were on the Routeburn Track who recommended that we stop there. But with his accent (he was a Scandinavian living in New Zealand - it was all screwed up) I thought he said "Hooker Falls." He assured me it was nothing of the kind, so Jess and I went there.
So pretty. The water was so blue.
Then we went to Rotorua, had dinner at a place called "Fat Dog" (extremely delicious Cajun Chicken Burger), and shopped quick. I bought a pink purse I'd been eyeing at Kathmandu (the South Pacific's version of MEC) since we'd been in Nelson. We had approximately 1 hour to get to our white water rafting trip that we'd booked the night before. It was on the Kaituna River and the starting point was about 30 minutes from Rotorua. So because I was with Jess (and she is always living on the edge) we went 20 minutes the opposite way out of town to go zorbing. This is my only picture.
We rolled down the hill together in one of those see through balls. It was so fun.
Jess drove so we miraculously made it on time to our rafting trip. I felt like we were on amazing race the way we sped through zorbing and onto the next task. Wehn we arrived at our rafting start point we were informed that it was just the 2 of us and our adorable guide L.B. That scared me a little because I thought it might be harder with less people, but we actually ended up getting special treatment. He made is so fun for us. The particular trip we picked included a drop over a 21 foot waterfall. This picture obviously isn't us, but it is the river we rafted. And we did not flip.
That was definately the highlight, but the entire ride was awesome. L.B. tricked us into jumping out of the boat at one point (acutally Jess asked if we could and I blindly followed her) and then he would not help us back in and we went over a rapid/small waterfall just in the water. There was no shortage of water on that trip. L.B. would row back into a waterfall after we'd gone over and leave either Jess or I in it to get doused with the thunderous water. T'was a blast.
Then we drove to a beach somewhere and went swimming and watched some surf lifeguard/rescue people in training. They are the most fit people I've ever seen in my life. After that we continued on to the Coromandel Peninsula which is where I was when I wrote my last post. I'll finish off the trip on another day. I couldn't not write about all our fun times in Rotorua though. Zorbing really was the coolest thing ever.
The day after our crazy adventure in Tongariro National Park we filled our day with fun. On the way to Taupo I made us stop to take this picture. The area is known for skiing and somebody actually drew those on. From the highway driving at top speed (which for me was usually around 70 or 80 - those twisty roads are scary) it looked like the sign had been made this way. And in the backgroud are the mountains we hiked up the previous day.
Then we went to Huka Falls. I was talking to a guy from Christchurch when we were on the Routeburn Track who recommended that we stop there. But with his accent (he was a Scandinavian living in New Zealand - it was all screwed up) I thought he said "Hooker Falls." He assured me it was nothing of the kind, so Jess and I went there.
So pretty. The water was so blue.
Then we went to Rotorua, had dinner at a place called "Fat Dog" (extremely delicious Cajun Chicken Burger), and shopped quick. I bought a pink purse I'd been eyeing at Kathmandu (the South Pacific's version of MEC) since we'd been in Nelson. We had approximately 1 hour to get to our white water rafting trip that we'd booked the night before. It was on the Kaituna River and the starting point was about 30 minutes from Rotorua. So because I was with Jess (and she is always living on the edge) we went 20 minutes the opposite way out of town to go zorbing. This is my only picture.
We rolled down the hill together in one of those see through balls. It was so fun.Jess drove so we miraculously made it on time to our rafting trip. I felt like we were on amazing race the way we sped through zorbing and onto the next task. Wehn we arrived at our rafting start point we were informed that it was just the 2 of us and our adorable guide L.B. That scared me a little because I thought it might be harder with less people, but we actually ended up getting special treatment. He made is so fun for us. The particular trip we picked included a drop over a 21 foot waterfall. This picture obviously isn't us, but it is the river we rafted. And we did not flip.
That was definately the highlight, but the entire ride was awesome. L.B. tricked us into jumping out of the boat at one point (acutally Jess asked if we could and I blindly followed her) and then he would not help us back in and we went over a rapid/small waterfall just in the water. There was no shortage of water on that trip. L.B. would row back into a waterfall after we'd gone over and leave either Jess or I in it to get doused with the thunderous water. T'was a blast.Then we drove to a beach somewhere and went swimming and watched some surf lifeguard/rescue people in training. They are the most fit people I've ever seen in my life. After that we continued on to the Coromandel Peninsula which is where I was when I wrote my last post. I'll finish off the trip on another day. I couldn't not write about all our fun times in Rotorua though. Zorbing really was the coolest thing ever.
