Rotorua (Contiki Day 2)

Today was an early wake-up as we headed to Rotorua. Rotorua was home to the 2006 World Mountain Bike Championships, so I knew I was going to enjoy the town. The only negative thing about the town is that it smells like rotten eggs. There are a lot of thermal activity (geysers, mud pools, etc) in the area which creates the smell.

First up was the Zorb. Zorbing is where you slip into a giant ball, and roll down the hill inside the ball. They put some water inside the ball, so you slip around and pure carnage ensues. The only thing to compare it to is the little plastic balls kids put their pet gerbils in, so they can run around the house. Its quite safe, as the outside of the ball is airfilled like a mattress. They also give you these really groovy shorts and shirt to wear, so you don't get your clothes wet.

(Me standing next to the Zorb ball at the bottom of the hill)

Next up was the Luge. Here you take a chairlift to the top of a hill, throw on a bike helmet, and grab a luge. The luges are not like winter luges. You sit on it like a sled, and have steering handles similar to a bike. To break you pull back on the handles. There are three different tracks to choose from, each with a different level of difficlutly. The tracks have bank turns, switch backs, steep drops, weird obstacles, and other things similar to Super Mario Go Kart. We had some pretty intense races down, and everyone came out safe, despite some sketchy moments.

(the Luge track we went down... winding down the mountain)

That night we went to an offical Maori Hangi meal and concert. The meal is a giant feast where they cook the food in the ground, using heated rocks. It takes a couple of hours. After that, Maori dancers put on a show. They invite the males in the audience to come up to the stage and learn the Haka. It was a pretty pitiful display of dancing by the foreigners. We were not going to intimidate any body.

(All the guys doing the Haka Dance. The younger guys in the photo our from the Contiki group).

The Maori culture is very interesting. They are true warriors which discovered New Zealand by travelling in canoes across the oceans from Australia. They enjoy hand to hand combat, so all of their weapons are quite brutal.

That night we headed back to the hostel and celebrated the jam filled day with some Jagarbombs.

Daily Activites:
- Zorb: rolling down a hill in a giant air ball, with a splash of water inside to create pure carnage.
- Luge: flying down a luge track with only a piece of crappy plastic under your feet.
- Maori meal and concert: cultural stuff