Rotorua is an adrenaline junkies paradise. Fortunately for Carolyn and me we didn’t have to skydive, bungy jump, whitewater raft, roll in the Zorb, or jetboat rapids to enjoy the area.
Our best five sensory experiences –
Taste – Best fish & chips we have had in ages served in real newspaper like nobody does in England any more. The only disappointment was there was no vinegar to put on the chips. The waitress had a chuckle when we asked for the vinegar and spotted that we must be (at least half of us) from England. Kiwis eat their chips like the Yanks with lots of tomato sauce.
Smell - A cloud of steamy hydrogen sulfide filled gas that practically carried us away as we strolled the boardwalk above a sizzling, bubbling thermal pool in a park close to Rotorua’s center.
Sight – The carvings on the chapels, shrines, and statues with oyster shells for eyes as clouds of steam wafted up from seemingly everywhere in the Maori village on the banks of Lake Rotorua.
Feel – Flopping into one of the thermal pools at our campsite at the Cozy Cottages.
Sound – The blast from the conch shell followed by the cry of a Maori song title, a lone guitar strumming a couple of rhythmic chords, and a hundred Maori women launching into a Polynesian-like folk song with men in bamboo skirts chanting the bass line as they all swayed their bodies and moved their hands in beautiful synchronized motions as we waited to welcome the Samoan rugby side to the World Cup.
