Rotorua Journal & Photos - New Zealand - Lynx Travel

Wai-O-TapuThermal Wonderland (53 Photos)	Rotorua Bath House & Museum (23 Photos)
Rotorua Miscellaneous (13 Photos)	Polynesian Spa (11 Photos)
Rotorua Pubs (19 Photos)	Zorb (5 Photos)
Skyline Gondola & Luge Rotorua (18 Photos)

We left about 8:15 AM and paid for the night before as we left. The girl said she is always in the office but just turns off the lights after 8:00 PM so people don't bother her for buying the assorted sundries they had in the office. She did thank us for not checking in though when we told her it was getting close to midnight. We headed out of town and Scott's plans for a big run disappeared when we realized how windy it was. He was really fighting the camper as we headed for Tongariro National Park. It ends up being for naught because the rain has brought the clouds in so low you cannot see anything. We did drive up to Whakapapa Village and its ski area. We drove right up into the clouds and saw snow. They are loading skiers into a shuttle to head for the top. We can't take the camper any higher so we turn around. We reached 1630 meters and from what I could see of the landscape it was very reminiscent of Haleakala on the Big Island of Hawaii. I've finally caught up to present as we are on the road to Rotorua to see if we can do anything there. Maybe if we get out of the mountains the weather will be better but that's not looking good for us now either. We hope we can zorb in bad weather at least.

We stopped at Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland on the way to Rotorua to do something. Scott said it seems like we have been driving for three straight days which we almost have to get here. On the way I figured our expenses and I officially owe Scott about $10 NZ now so I purchased his way into the park which was $13 NZ and they gave us a 10% discount. The area reminds me a lot of Geyser Basin at Yellowstone on a smaller scale. Lots of glassy looking pools and with lots of vibrant greens and yellows. Spots that stood out, were the panoramic view of the Frying Pan area and Lake Ngakoro in the background peaking it's way through a man made forest which is supposed to be the largest in the southern hemisphere. Bridal Veil Falls, my second falls of that name on this trip and third I've seen overall including one at Yosemite I think, which was small but colorful. Lake Ngakoro Waterfall and Lake Ngakoro which were pretty and really a big thermal lake, but it stands out more because Scott almost fell on his ass on the trail. Wearing his flip flops since he thought it Wai-O-Tapu would be a quick stop instead of a hour long hike, he was ahead of me and when I crested a small hill he stopped me to show me his four foot long skid mark with one flop and a good tow foot skid with the second flop. I can't believe how much I have written about Scott's footwear choices. The best spot in my opinion was the Devil's Bath. (Earlier at Devil's Ink Pots Scott asked me if I thought the devil was getting a bad rap which I thought was funny.) I saw Devil's Bath because I took the correct trail back and Scott didn't. He ended up on the path we took out originally and was waiting at the end when I showed up. He asked how I found the path and I told him I really wasn't sure it was a path originally because it wasn't marked that well and it looked like you were just wandering aimlessly through the back end of the Champagne Pool. I didn't even see Champagne Pool because of all the steam coming off of it was blowing right at me. I really just followed three people in front of me to make the right choice. I figured if they fell through any part of the walk way I could just turn around. My own human guinea pigs.

The Devil's Bath was this almost neon looking green color. The guide says the greener the color the higher the arsenic content of the water. Overall it was a good stop. Scott kept telling me how creepy he thought the place was but at the end did say he thought it was real cool. We headed up the road a few kilometers and next stopped at the Mud Pots which again were a smaller version of the Yellowstone Mud Holes. Mud Pots are creepy in my opinion but I do think the are really cool to watch. Like boiling chocolate pudding almost. We made a stop at the Waimangu Volcanic Valley but it was going to be at least another hour or two of walking down a valley so we decided to skip it and left it open to return to. We came to Rotorua to make our plans for the next couple of days. Again the rain just will not stop.

Had lunch at the Pig & Whistle in Rotorua at about 3:00 PM. The bar is the old police station of Rotorua. We had a couple of there house beers. Swine Lager for myself and Snout Dark Ale for Scott. Mine was good Scott never really told me how his was. We finally had New Zealand Green Lipped Mussels and the were great. I got a "good call" from Scott. We followed them up with Pig Fries (Curly Fries) and some average Buzzard Wings (Chicken Wings). The bartender told me we have to sledge and that it is a blast. We did feel like real Neanderthal men when they brought us a bowl with water and lemon in it and we couldn't figure out what we were supposed to do with it. After finishing the mussels Scott suggested it was to dip the mussels in to clean them of any sand and I told him he was probably right. Then they brought another bowl with the wings and fries and I felt like a real moron when I realized they were finger bowls for cleaning up. Cavemen don't need no stinking finger bowls. We are idiots. We did chose this bar though because Fat Dog's our original choice ended up having a foo foo write up in Scott's guide and we had enough of foo foo dog bars in Wellington. We got our bearings and came about half a mile up the road from the city center and check our camper into the Acacia Holiday Park. It was about 4:30 and we drove back out to see a Maori Show but they all had dinner with them so we decided to do that tomorrow maybe since we just ate. Back to the camper park and we decide to extend our stay here a day since spots were filling up. When I did that the owner told me we could sledge at 10:30 AM the next day. I gave Scott the news and he was tormented because he still wants to do his three mile run. He told me to go ahead and make a reservation and he would run from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM. The guy at the sledging office was funny. He ended every sentence with cool. "You want to sledge? COOL, "There are two of you?, COOL." I was almost laughing out loud and then realized he got me doing it. "Warmest river I'll ever be in huh, COOL".

I went out to try and get my film developed while Scott ran but couldn't find anything open but bars and internet spots. I decided to wait for Scott to drink and spent 40 minutes emailing my two homes, Faunce and Ryan. Scott was supposed to leave the keys in the compartment that hold our electricity outlet and it wasn't there. I almost got really pissed since it was still raining but checked the door and it was open and heard the cry of "friend of foe". He blew off his run to take a nap. I loaded pictures of Wai-O-Tapu and updated journal. Scott just woke up and is studying up for tomorrow so I guess were going to head out. So I will sign off being caught up again.

We went out for the evening about 9:00 PM and like every other town has been, it's a ghost town. Scott mentioned that it is worse that anything he'd seen in Ocean City in the winter and even likened it to winter at Ocean City circa 1978. We walked straight down our heading to Wild Willy's but instead stopped at Cameron's Bar first. They served us a very warm Lion Red Beer. They had some amusing signs up in the bar the my favorite being, "You're not drunk if you can lie on the floor without falling down." To our dismay a guy walked in with a Yankee hat. "We can't get away from them", said Scott. Lots of Scottish memorabilia on the wall including a good poster about cold weather and what the Scotts compared to other places in the world. It ended with hell freezing over and Scotland winning the World Cup. We walked by Wild Willy's which was anything but, so headed on and back towards our camper since we had reached the end of town. We stopped in at Churchill’s next and had a Churchill Draught which I liked. The two bartenders reminded me of the gas station attendants be way too nice. They were singing karaoke and just as we were getting to leave an older guy came up and said he saw me walking down the street earlier and that I was one big bastard. We had met our guide for the night. William McCowatt aka "Red" Vietnam War helicopter pilot now hospitality tutor. He said he was a Kiwi but flew for Australia during the war. We told him if he was a hospitality tutor now he was doing a great job because everyone is too nice. We asked him where the nearest Irish Bar was since we had been to a Scottish and English Pub and wanted to keep the continuity of pubs of the United Kingdom going. He told us it was O’Malley’s and started to give us directions than said "Oh Hell, I'll just go with you". So off we went with our new friend. At O'Malley's he gave us the story of him drinking Lion Red for 35 years and switching to Speight's Dark in June which he and Scott were drinking. He also told us that as a hospitality tutor you had to explain how it takes bigger guys to more to get drunk and we explained to him our 2-1 beer drinking ratio/rule. The oddest thing about O'Malley's was they had a round pool table. We had our one beer, two for me, and were off to "Red's" next pub on his pub tour. We go out and a cab is sitting their and Red asks about how much it will be to go to Oska's and the girl say about $3 NZ we hop in and the total fare ends up being $3.30 NZ, we get out and Red is arguing with the poor girl that she said $3 NZ. He takes us to Oska's which ends up being free entertainment. There is a little Oriental man named Tony who Scott guessed weighed at most 105 pounds who has owned Oska's for the last 24 years. We walk in and the first thing you notice that there are a lot of you guys in there and only three girls. A bartender girl who is in just her bra and panties, and two girls who work at the bar hustling these guys at pool while wearing there underwear and nighties. It is not a strip club though because they stayed clothed though the whole time. Tony is an absolute character out of a bad Chinese B movie. He sits at the bar and can talk a mile a minute and has a mouth on him that would embarrass Francis. He wanted me to spin his Stupid Wheel for $10 NZ against him, but I knew better than to gamble any money against this man on his own wheel, in his own bar. Scottie then told him if he wants to gamble me then it has to be at arm wrestling. My right arm might have weighed more than this little guy. He was telling some story, I could barely understand him, and at one point I thought he said while looking at me if you were a woman. I stopped him and said back if I was a woman I'd be a huge one. He stops his story and says "You want a woman?” snaps his fingers twice at the bartender girl. Realizing what was going on I said whoa, whoa, whoa Tony we were just telling a story I don't want a woman. Not that I don't, but not in some sleazy Rotorua club from Tony the pimp. Scott asked where he was from a little later and he replied same place you come from and in unison we look at each other and say "West Virginia?" He then told us from a woman in a much cruder way. Red has to leave us now to get back to his wife and we leave Tony behind with some of our funnier moments in pub history.

Scott finally goes for his run this morning and I went down to take my film to get developed. Scott says he almost was eaten by a dingo. Some dog I guess stared him down as he ran. We told Red last night he was going to run 30 kilometers and he said Scott is off his rocker. The guy in Te Anau Downs said they should lock him up, so I guess the dog had the same views as these guys. John, the cool dude who runs the sledging comes up to the camper and eyes get huge when I walk out. "You are a big dude, COOL". He says I probably am going to have problems and will not fit in the wet suit having such a large upper torso and they do not have an flippers that are going to fit me. Not cool. Scott was indisposed at this time and I got to talk to John for a while. He just kept looking at me like little kids do some time in wide eyed wonderment. He didn't disappoint me though as he ended every sentence with a COOL. So I caught up on the journal and Scott is off to sledge. I have to come up with a plan B for myself now.

Plan B ended up going to the Rotorua Museum which is located in the Rotorua Bath House. The admission was $7.50 NZ. It's a nice little museum that they have only recently refurbished. Most of the displays are only a couple of years old. The first part is about the volcano that erupted and killed at least 120 people and destroyed one of the first tourist destinations the Pink and White Terraces in the late 19th century. I then went to the rooms about the native Maori people which had some impressive old wood carvings over 100 years old. One was the completed front carving of a house. They had a section on modern Maori art that I didn't like that much and a section on family treasures. The family treasures section was an assignment for local school children who wrote an essay of what were their or their families most treasured item. Those selected had the essay along with the item displayed. They went anywhere from antique musical instruments to one child’s cast from when she had broken her leg. It was to teach that anything can be treasured by people. The last section of the museum was an original part of the bath house that had been restored. It obviously didn't look that great now but it must have been something at the turn of the 20th century. I did some shopping and then headed back to wait for Scott. He had already returned to the camper. He must have just gotten back because he was leaning up against his cubby hole and turned to me and said "nobody told me this was going to be work." He was the only one on the morning trip and it sounded like the guys could use the money as Scott thought he overheard a phone conversation on a cell phone from a creditor. He said they worked his butt off. The COOL guy’s partner was the NICE guy who would tell this to Scott after every rapid. Scott said it was fun but he had no legs because of the run in the morning. He was also told he was the oldest guy at 40 to go over the 7 meter waterfall. Since he felt like hell and we were in the spa capital of New Zealand we headed to the Polynesian Spa. The rate for the adult pool was $10 and I got a 10% travel agent discount. They had one main pool at 38 degrees and a bunch of smaller mineral pools at varying temperature from 36 degrees to 44 degrees. I went in the 41 degree which was great; Scott originally got into the 44 degree pool and almost boiled. The pools bottoms consisted of gravelly rocks which were kind of creepy your first time in the pools. The spas had a beautiful view overlooking Lake Rotorua that actually looked a little like some of the pools at Wai-O-Tapu, very glass like. Not the whole lake just the portion nearest the shore of the Polynesian Spa. As we left I caused myself some mental anguish. I checked for my money and it was gone. You just were issued a plastic container to put your belongings and I had gone back to mine to get money to pay for a towel. I figured someone saw me get my money and knew where it was so helped themselves. The guy at the Polynesian Spa said the had video tapes and he would check them. As I walked back to the camper I held out a glimmer of hope that I just had a brain lock and left my cash at the camper. Thank god I did. I was getting ready to take a shower when Scott decided to go to the spa and I must have already taken the cash out of my pocket. Thank goodness, the end of the trip would have been a real bummer if it had been stolen. After the spa we headed to the gondola. Scott started the wrong way and we went about 10 kilometers in the wrong direction before we figured out our mistake. On the good side it made me feel better that I wasn't the only one to do something goofy during the day. We got our bearings straight and got to the Skyline Gondola and were told that we could go up and enjoy the view but nothing was open at the top. We passed and headed back to the camp ground. Stopped at the House of Wool to find Susie's scarf with no luck. I couldn't believe the House of Wool had no wool scarves.

We hit the town at 6:30 PM and stopped first at Monkey Jo's. We were the only two in the bar to go with the two bartenders. The girl bartender had some pieces of paper with recipes for special shots for their Friday the 13th party tomorrow. I told her we could be her guinea pigs and she told me not to worry that that had been her plan all along. I was first with the Black Widow, tasted like raspberry licorice, Scott then had the Hell Raiser, my second shot was the Blood Bath with tequila, vermouth and strawberry and was pretty good, and Scott finished the experiments with the Brain Damage that looked like brains in the shot glass but Scott said was OK. The girl giving us our shots had a nephew that works on the tourist board and called him up to see if there was anything between Rotorua and Auckland to see except the Glow Worm Caves, there wasn't, but he gave us directions. We asked her for dinner suggestions and end up going to the Bloated Fish. The Bloated Fish took the frozen beer taps to a higher level by inverting them from the ceiling. We both ordered lamb shanks which weren't that great. They were more work than they were worth. We also got a order of fried flattened prawns. Everybody loves to fry there seafood here. They had real nice Monteith's Beer mugs at the bar, so I asked if I could have one. He surprised me be saying yes and giving us both a glass. We headed back to O'Malley's which was next door to watch some circular pool table playing. Not a whole lot of bank shots and leaving yourself position for the next shot is tricky. I decide to through a $2 NZ coin in the 5 cent slot machine and lose all but 10 cents. I put in another coin and end up winning ten free plays. I don't do anything; the machine keeps spinning while I watch. I won a couple of small jackpots but then on the second to last spin I won a big one. I end up with 1175 five cent pieces which I cashed out immediately. The machine pays out in $2 coins also. I've never seen a slot machine wear you are playing one coin and get paid and put in other coins. The funniest part of the slot machine is that I cannot tell you what combinations I hit to win. The machine just kept spinning and giving me more credits. We watch some more pool and a guy starts playing with huge bell bottoms that were formed by huge cutout satin V's in the bell bottoms that were black with smiley faces on them. Scott's incredibly jealous. We headed to the Lava Lounge next which was a bar connected with one of the backpacker hotels. Scott's NICE guy guide had told him that was the place to be tonight. They are having a 70's night which explained some of the really bad clothing including bell bottom guy who walked in after us. Actually almost everyone we saw at O'Malley's showed up eventually at The Lava Lounge. I was talking to a girl at the bar from New Zealand who tells me I look like David Langey who was the ex prime minister of New Zealand. I'll have to check the internet when I get home. There is a bar back working at the bar from Dallas. He has been out of the country in Australia and New Zealand for a couple of years but has lost his work permit (which obviously wasn't a huge problem). He told us he was going to fly to Bangkok next so he could get some new documents. Not from any US government location but from the black market. Bangkok is the place to go to get document we told him. Of course he asks us how the Cowboys are doing and we tell him they are terrible but they beat the Redskins. He asked to read my hand written notes for my journal and gets a laugh and says it seem like we've had a good time. He's right. I was amazed he could read anything because I have problems reading it. Everything has been written while driving down the road or while drinking in a bar. Either location has the same effect on my already terrible chicken scratch like penmanship. A little after 11:00 PM Scott has had enough when Maxine Nightingale starts playing. He hung for 4 1/2 hours which was 1 1/2 hours longer than he usually asks. He reminded me that I could have Bedlow to play with for three hours then he's pretty much out of it, so it's up to me which three hours. I usually like the early hours even though you don't get as many people out, you do get up early with Old Man's Disease and get to see more of the sights. I really wasn't that tired so hung out some more and later headed to Oska's to see our friend Toby. I was calling him Tony the whole night before. He wasn't nearly as drunk and ended up being a pretty cool guy. There was another guy at his bar, Dave, who was a fishing buddy of Toby's and had seen Scott and me at the Pig & Whistle yesterday afternoon. I tend to stick out in the crowd I guess. The underwear playing pool and bar girls is a once a week thing so they weren't there.

Toby and Dave go fishing for brown trout in the area and definitely sound like fisherman when telling there tales and busting each others chops. Every once in a while Dave would call Toby a miserable little man which would just make Toby laugh. They both love Rotorua and the small town life. There best bit of bar wisdom of the night was that everyone is your friend in a small town. At one point Dave was looking at me and told me I looked familiar. When I mentioned David Langey he said that was it. We bought each other a few rounds of drinks and I gave them each a new $1 coin to commemorate our visit. I told them I would probably see them again the next night but that we didn't have our plans set just yet.

The trip is coming to an end quickly. Scott, having had an early evening got up early and went to the Orchid Garden. He figured it wouldn't be that interesting for me. I headed down the road at about 8:30 AM to get my pictures before we left town. The girl told me she had never seen Advanced Photo System pictures come out so well. I showed her my camera and she saw it was a SLR which was the reason. From the photo store I headed to the Polynesian Spa again to pick up some presents since I didn't have any cash after the previous days fiasco. I passed Scott on the way who said I am easy to spot on the street. I didn't see him until a half a block away. When I got to the Polynesian Spa I saw the manager who was supposed to check the tapes for me. I had called after I found my money to call of the search but the girl I talked to never told him so he was really relieved that I had found the money. I stopped at a couple of gift shops on the way back to the camper and finally found a wool scarf. I head back for the camper and we decide to unhook and drive to the Zorb. Zorbing is putting yourself inside the inside of two plastic balls and rolling down the hill. When we get there and I see it I start laughing out loud. It is hilarious looking. The hill isn't as long as we expected but it seems like a decent ride. The Zorb ball is huge, big enough that they transport it up the hill on the back of a trailer connected to a pickup truck. We get to the office and surprise, I was to big to Zorb so it's left to Scott. We saw a young kid Zorb in front of us and at the bottom when he tries to get out of the Zorb he is really wobbly and turning green. Scott decides to see the other rides at the Agrodome that you can buy as a package. We don't actually see them the Swoop, which is a zip line you are attached to and slide down, and another jet boat. Scott wants something he can control so we head down to the gondola again to try and luge. I did find a second wool scarf and purchase it figuring I needed to get mom something too. I'll let Susie pick the one that goes with her jacket and give the other one to mom. The luge is open today; the gondola ride is $13 NZ that I get for $11.30 NZ. I buy two luges for $8.50 and do the beginner’s course since I don't fit that well and have problems turning with my knees in the way. Scott buys five luges and gets one free because he complained about having to have to take his first ride on the beginner’s course. He tried to explain he'd been on the luge in Queenstown but this was there policy. This luge is a lot longer than Queenstown; I think I read 900 meters long and much better than Queenstown. Scott is having a blast on the advanced course. He is timing his rides and gets a personal best time of 1 minute 53 seconds. The only downer is the eight minute ski lift ride back to the top which kept stopping all the time. The funny thing was they had sheep on the hill underneath you that you could baaah at and have them look up at you. As I said before, I am easily amused. Scott told me that you actually got airborne twice on the advance luge. Well he did. He said the first time was a huge surprise and the landing is a bit rough but you got used to it on later runs. I had some lunch while he luged away. He offered me some of his rides but it started to be like work for me since I did not fit that well on the luge. The view from the gondola is OK but you are not as high as Queenstown. The neat thing here though was that they were running helicopter rides from the top of the mountain so you could watch them take off and land. We decide we have had enough of Rotorua and head for the Waitomo Caves, home of the glow worms.

	Oyster Pool Wai-O-Tapu (Scroll Over Box For Movie)

Bridal Veil Falls Wai-O-Tapu (Scroll Over Box For Movie)	Thunder Crater Wai-O-Tapu (Scroll Over Box For Movie)	Boiling Ground Water (Scroll Over Box For Movie)

Mud Pots Of Wai-O-Tapu (Scroll Over Box For Movie)	Mud Pots Of Wai-O-Tapu (Scroll Over Box For Movie)	Mud Pots Of Wai-O-Tapu (Scroll Over Box For Movie)



Luge Lift Of Skyline Gondola and Luge Rotorua (Scroll Over Box For Movie)	Near Top Of Skyline Gondola & Luge Of Rotorua (Scroll Over Box For Movie)	Riding The Luge At Rotorua Skyline Gondola & Luge (Scroll Over Box For Movie)

Luge Riding At The Rotorua Skyline Gondola & Luge (Scroll Over Box For Movie)	Luge Lift of Skyline Gondola and Luge - Rotorua (Scroll Over Box For Movie)	Sheep Grazing Beneath The Skyline Gondola & Luge - Rotorua (Scroll Over Box For Movie)