Rotorua!

I hope you liked the geothermal stuff! Not only do you have pictures from Wai-O-Tapu yesterday, now you have pictures from Craters of the Moon, an area near Taupo that is pockmarked with steaming craters. It felt like we were on a different planet, if different planets have steam everywhere. And ducks. There was hissing everywhere and I was afraid that something was going to explode while we were there.

Afterwards, we headed to Rotorua and saw bubbling mud pools (I loved these) and a geyser, and then we went and saw MORE bubbling geothermal areas at Hell’s Gate. All of these thermal pools have names referring to the devil and/or hell, which I think is kind of predictable.

At Hell’s Gate, we had the opportunity to do some Maori carving, which involves chiseling wood. I made a silver fern (this is NZ’s official emblem, not the kiwi, although this should be changed) and I was very proud of my sad-looking result.

After Hell’s Gate we were pretty tired of seeing how New Zealand was always on the verge of blowing up. On our way out of Rotorua, I made Barbara stop so that I could throw out my parent’s money by placing myself in a giant hamster ball (with a bucket of warm water for good measure) and rolling down a hill. That’s right, I went Zorbing!! It was very exciting. I was given a little wetsuit that said “Zorbonaut” on the back, was placed in a giant inflatable ball with some warm water, and pushed down a hill. I opted for the Zig-Zag Zorb, where I got to go down the hill in a zig-zag pattern instead of straight down (look to the right of the big hill in the pictures). It was SO MUCH FUN!!! I tried to run all the way down, but it was nearly impossible to stand up. I give hamsters a lot of credit. Instead I would try to stand and then I just got sloshed around a lot, but it was great. You can do a Zorb with up to three people in a ball at once. Who wants to come to New Zealand and Zorb with me?

Now we are in a hostel in Hamilton, and it is very nice. We are headed back to Auckland tomorrow. I’m going to do some Auckland activities tomorrow, and then I’m canyoning on Thursday, and then I’m off to Australia!