Hello Everyone,
Erin is going to let me update this as long as I stay appropriate...
So we have been in New Zealand for over a week now and all I can say is it is Awesome! This whole country is like a viewpoint, everywhere you look it is postcard perfect.
We started in Auckland and after 5 days of being in a large city similar to Seattle and Portland we decided to move onto the Waitomo glow worm caves. We arrived by bus (which was actually a van with a self proclaimed tour guide) and were dropped off at the info center. The hostel was supposed to pick us up so we found a nice bench and had some lunch to wait. After about a half an hour one of the info center employees came out and asked us if we were waiting for a hostel to pick us up. She said it was her Dad's place and unfortunetly he wasn't going to make it, but she could give us a ride at 5:30 (it was 11:30AM!). On top of that the hostel wanted $15.00 each for every ride to the city. I figured this was going to add about $100.00 on to our trip so I was pretty annoyed. To calm our nerves we went to the see some rabbit shearing which was going on down the road and weigh our options. On the walk back we saw a nice camping area. It had availability so we booked two nights and canceled the other place. Waitomo was a cool city with a population of 41, a bar named Curly's where the only employee was Curly, and some sweet glow worm caves. We also went on a hike and met the New Zealand Sheep Shearing champion and former "New Zealand Time man of the year".
On the way to our next stop we got stuck in a town called Hamilton. Although it had a significantly larger Population the only sight was a Garden. I have to admit, the garden was cool, but not a whole day cool.
Ok, Erin is going to talk about Rotorua now...
In Rotorua, known for geothermal pools and extreme adventures, we first noticed the sulphur smell caused by the pools. But Pete was quickly drawn to the adventure tourism, and he pointed out the hand-written note on the bulletin board that said, "White Water Rafting $50, Usually $98." Without asking for any more information, he booked the trip for us and came to tell me while I worked on dinner. I was glad to try something new, but neither one of us had any idea what we were in for.
This morning at 8:30, we waited for a ride with another couple from our hostel, Steph (Scotland) and Richard (England). The van showed up pulling the raft, and our guide Pete and the cook Matt helped us into the van before picking up the other two rafters, Steve (England) and Alex (France). During our introductions Steve and Richard said that they'd previously been on rafting trips with this same company, but chose to come today to do the biggest rapids possible. I thought they were joking.
Apparently Steve and Richard actually planned their time in Rotorua around this particular rafting trip. The river we were going to was about an hour out of town and is not even a white water river until the dam is opened and the valley is flooded, an event that happens rarely. In the back of the van, a consent form was passed around for us to sign, explaining the severity of Class 5 white water rafting!
An hour into our drive we parked in a rainy field to change into our wetsuits and helmets. Under the wetsuits we wore fleece shirts that were made by the owner of the company. She apparently has a sense of humor because the fleece shirts we wore had sleeves that reached 3/4 the length of our arms and the patterns included leopard print, paw prints, bright pink (for Steve), neon green (for Pete), and fluffy cartoon sheep (for Richard and I). We looked more ridiculous than I've probably ever felt and then we jumped into the raft to practice the strokes our guide taught us, still in the middle of an empty field.
We hopped back into the van and were dropped off at the mouth of the dam. It was raging. Ready to face my death in sheep print fleece and wetsuit, we all hiked the rocks down to the water and boarded the raft. With lots of practice our guide felt we were ready to go. Another tour group met up with us before beginning the river. We were quite obviously with the rag tag raft company, since the other group had lovely long-sleeved blue fleeces and wetsuits that didn't even have holes in the knees. Luckily our guide was a lot of fun and had us feeling pretty confident as we began our decent into the first drop called "Mother's Nightmare."
Along the way our guide pointed out ropes that hung from cliff edges and trees that would be useful for us to grab on to if we fell from the raft and were pulled into the rapids. We went through a number of Class 3 and 4 rapids for practice, then entered "The Rollercoaster" and "The Washing Machine," Class 5 rapids.
I sat in the back behind Pete and directly in front of our guide, Pete, where I felt that our guide could easily pluck me from the air if I were to be thrown from the raft, and I was also pleased to hide behind Pete as waves crashed into the boat. A photographer took pictures from the safety of the rocks and told us we could purchase them later. Not sure how extreme we'll look screaming over rapids and waterfalls in what looked like pajamas, but if we buy them we'll be sure to post them.
We survived the hour and a half trip and were treated to lunch back at the van. My only injuries included the nasty wound to my finger after I got it stuck in my helmet (this seriously happened and caused a lot of panic) and a small scratch on my hand after our guide pulled me from the water back into the raft. I didn't fall out though. At one point the water was deep and slow so we were all able to jump in and swim around the freezing water.
Our first white water rafting trip turned out to be quite a lot of fun and well worth $50. It was only afterwards that we discovered Steve and Alex actually paid the full price, while the rest of us got the good deal because our hostel owners know the rafting company's owners.
The rest of our full day in Rotorua was spent recovering in the thermal hot tub, then enjoying a drink at Pig and Whistle Bar. Later this week we'll try some of Rotorua's other activities, but we'll try to keep them within our adventure comfort zone. :-)
