Next up Rotorua, the first tourist destination in New Zealand and home to ZORBING!!! More on that later! Before we actually got to Rotorua we stopped by a little town along the way to fulfill our next adventure, white water rafting!!! Apparently, this is big spot to do it because they have the largest commercially rafted waterfall...ugh! The two little lead in waterfalls were big enough, i think 10 and 12 feet tall, but the big dawg stood 22 feel tall and was a monster!!! Much to my dismay, Joe/gina/and the Canadian's raft did not flip upside down underneath the falls, but one girl did get her nose broken...its that kind of rafting trip! Yet again, I have pictures of all this on cd that i'll put up as soon as i find both the internet and a cd-rom at the same location!!! All in all it was pretty fun, but not as exhilarating as i would have expected, i think i may be becoming immune to adrenaline...this country has ruined us!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok, so now we're into Rotorua and the home of zorbing and thermal pools, read “extremely horrible smelling boiling mud.” This town is actually kind of funny, they have a park setup where you can go around and see all these “pools,” but they smell so ridiculously bad from all the bubbling sulfur that you basically have to plug your nose the whole time just to bear it. It was actually pretty cool how the lava is so close to the surface that it melts and boils the mud in certain spots. The romantic picture of me and Joe as well as the AWESOME park toys were taken here. This is also the place where they do all the geothermal power-plant stuff you hear about all the time.
The final conquest of Rotorua was Zorbing, invented here by yet another crazy kiwi. The basic gist being, you're put into a huge inflatable ball and rolled down a gigantic hill. And that more or less is the whole bit! They have a few spins you can put on it though like filling it with water and/or bubbles...i opted for both being i was due for a shower anyway!!! You could also go with two people if you wanted to, so of course Joe and Gina decided to go together, and i am still amazed that neither of them got hurt or bloody. I decided to go with our Canadian friend, Kim....hi Kim ;). We attempted to run down the hill without falling, but only managed to make it about 3 feet before we face planted in the front of the ball and spent the remainder of the trip repetitively falling over, while trying as hard as possible to stand up. I think i want one of these toys!!!!!!!!!
