With most of room having not done Taupo yet as they started in Christchurch, people were getting up for the 5.30 departure to do the crossing. The constant rustling of bags woke me up however although I soon went back to bed, waking up at around 7 today. With an 8.50 departure this morning, I spent the morning down on the warm lake front catching up on my blog once again before a quick check up on things with the WiFi at the burger king.
The bus arrived early this morning, and by 8.50 the bus departed although there were only like 10 of us on the bus! This number did increase however as we did quite a few pick ups en route before finally leaving Taupo for Auckland, although I am hopping off at Rotorua en route. This isn't an official stop going north but I liked it going down so thought I would spend an extra night here.
Driving through these fields which were just shrouded in cloud, our first stop of the day was at the Waiotapu geothermal mud pools. This was basically this large lake full of mud which bubbled due to the volcanic rift. I got an unwelcome taster of the smell of sulphur once again, although it was fascinating seeing the mud bubble. In places it was really shooting large amounts of this watery mud in the air. From here it was just a short drive into Rotorua, with it only being an hour or so journey from Taupo.
Finally arriving at about half 10 because our driver did a drive round town to show the sights of Rotorua, I was dropped at the base hostel. It was weird that I was the only one who got off here, although some others got dropped off at other hostels. After checking into the hostel I booked myself in to do the zorbing in the afternoon, something I regretted not doing on the way down. With a 1pm pick up from hostel arranged, this allowed me to dump my stuff in my hostel room, which was completely empty, before heading out to look round the city.
First stop of the day was the day was the post office where I sent a few more postcards home. It is always tense seeing whether the people will send them as a letter or a parcel as it is a tight fit! I then headed over to the shopping mall where I had a good look round all the shops, before finally going over the supermarket to get some lunch. I was pretty pleased their nashi pears were on offer as they are really nice! It was then a little stroll round the cbd area with the high street shops which are basically all small souvenir shops before returning to the hostel.
Come 1 I was all outside ready and waiting for my afternoon or zorbing, although come half 1 there was still no one there to pick us up. There were two girls from Guildford doing it as well. It wasn't until 2 when they arrived to pick us up in the end which I wasn't too pleased about! When arriving to the centre we had to fill out our details on an iPad and then choose what kind of zorb we wanted to do. There was basically a choice of wet or dry, with me opting for wet which I was already prepared for.
We were then taken up to the top of this small hill where we were then given the choice of going down a straight course or a zigzag course, I chose zigzag. Due to the fact I did wet basically meant I didn't have to be strapped in unlike dry. The guy up top then filled my zorb up with a bit of water, then told me to dive through the hole which I think I did without touching the edges! The water was warm as well which was nice! They then zipped me into the ball and pushed me down the hill. It was so much fun, falling around everywhere. It was impossible to stand up as I was being tossed around in all directions!
Due to the fact they were late picking us up, they gave us an extra go for free which I suppose worked out in my favour. I was going to do the zurf option on my second go although apparently that is just surfing down the straight hill. I just went for the zigzag which was widely regarded as the better option. It was so much fun like last time, and when reaching the bottom and getting some more photos, I headed inside to dry off before my transfer back to Rotorua. It was a pain though as my photos were on cd as they had ran out of usbs.
When returning to the hostel, I went straight into the on sight hot pool which was empty. This geothermal pool was just like a swimming pool and was a nice way to relax as they had them sausage float things! I then headed into town where I just got the WiFi, finally getting a reply from FeeJee Experience about my booking. In one word disaster, but oh well. It was then back to the hostel where I just got the WiFi to try and sort out my booking. Dinner this evening was pie and bread as it was cheap, before settling down and relaxing in bed in my dorm which had just 2 people in including me!
No comments:
Post a Comment