Rotorua: Part 2

After the performance we got the chance to walk around the park.  There were some homes that were built to be similar to traditional Maori homes and huts.

 There was a huge rock of green jade rock.  It is said that if you rub it, it will bring good luck.  We weren't going to turn down an opportunity like that.

Next we walked over to the see the huge Geysers!  The water and steam were blowing far up into the air!  It was an amazing sight to see these natural springs of water and steam shooting up from the ground.  The water and steam were as tall as big buildings in the middle of large city.

Next we went for a little bit more sightseeing.  We went to a lookout place where you could stand on this hill and see the Green lake on one side of you and the Blue lake on the other side of you.  The trees where rising up and each side and we could make out the different colored lakes (named green and blue for obvious reasons).

Then we had some time to walk through the city and see more of the town.  A few of us found a little place to go paddle boating along the lake side as well!

We also spent one night at a dinner theater.   This place is owned by the Lady that we were staying with on this trip.   The food was a nice buffet and the show was private just for us.  The entertainment was interesting.  They tried to incorporate a lot of audience participation.  The story line was a little bit difficult to follow but it was still a fun night of eating, acting, dancing, and laughing!

 We tried muscles for the first time.... Honestly I didn't enjoy it at all.  It was super rubbery/fatty/yucky!

Even though I wasn't thrilled they had me play a small part in the play.  They also roped over half of our group into small rolls.

The last day was one of my all time favorite activities of being here in New Zealand.  We went to the Glow Worm’s Cave.  We took a tour called the Black Labyrinth.  This required us to gear up into wet suits, wet suit booties, rubber boots, helmet with a light, and to carry a thick inner tube.  

We were bused up to the start of the cave.  We headed into a dark, wet cave together as a group.  There were parts that were very rocky that we had to climb over and under.  Then we came to parts that were very deep and required us to float along.  There were two little waterfalls that we had to stand backwards, holding our tubs behind us, and jump out into the darkness landing on our tubes to get down.

 There was one part that the water level was so high and the roof of the cave was so low that we had to lean way back in our tub as our body scrapped across the top while we squeezed under it.  I must admit I began to feel a little bit claustrophobic and panicked.  Luckily it didn’t last for too long.  There was also a part where our guides said that there was really good acoustics if anyone felt like singing.  Of course our group of girls never turns down an opportunity like that.  We all began to sing the song that we sang for the Powhari.  It was magical!!!!! I sound of us in that caves was one I will never forget J

There were a few times when we turn out all of our head lights to take in the beautiful of the glow worm light.  As we looked up it was as though we were star gazing.  There were hundreds of lights all around above me.  It was even better than most star gazing I have done because there were no mosquitoes, I was rafting down a cave, and the whole experience was unlike any other.

When we reached the end of our hour journey in the cave we started to see the light from outside.  When we could finally start to see the greenery and rocks there was an amazing sun light beam shining straight into the water!


There was quite a lot of driving in our vans during this trip.  After hours and hours we start to resort to playing games and taking pictures of us making different faces.  This picture particularly came from Christine trying to get a picture of us laughing naturally, it didn't work at all.

Our Rotorua trip was a success!   We have one free day and then we head off to our final New Zealand trip to the Northland.