Rotorua > Taupo
We got ourselves up early and Kerry took the rest of the group to the Hot Water village. Although not on the Stray trip Kerry was happy to take Jonathan and Graham on out to the Zorb, Jet-boat, Swoop and Lugeing on the outskirts of Rotorua. Obviously the boys had their priorities straight, arse to culture and smelly bubbling mud…bring on the adventure sports!
First we tried a spot of Zorbing which is a bizarre activity where you are unceremoniously shoved into an inflatable hamster ball with some soapy water and rolled down a hill with a zig-zag track cut into it… I now know how my socks feel whilst in the washing machine!! The Jet-boating was a quick blast around a purpose made track in a small three person Agrojet or jetboat, and whilst fun probably wasn’t worth the money. We then had a go on the Swoop, which involved being strapped in to a large sock, very similar to what is suspended under a hang glider, then hoisted backwards up to the top of a Bungee tower and released in a long fast swinging motion. There is no sensation of stopping abruptly, just rushing vertically down to the ground and a seamless transition into the swoop just a meter or two above the ground. The Swoop was the first taste of being strapped into something and being dropped from a great height… the first of many we hoped.
Lugeing is quite possibly the best bang for buck available in New Zealand. It is best described as a plastic tea tray on wheels and Harley Davidson style chopper handlebars. You sit in the Luge and let gravity take you down the specially constructed concrete runs on the side of a hill. When at the bottom you and your Luge are transported back to the top of the runs in a chair lift. There tends to be several runs, a scenic run, which is long with sweeping lazy turns, an intermediate run which picks the pace up with steeper hills and sharper turns and an advanced run… which of course is the most fun with a few near vertical drops and some truly bonkers corners. At the beginning it is fun enough just to ride down, but quite quickly you find you need to have somebody else to race / crash into / generally have a laugh with. Lugeing is very cheap and provided you have others to go with is one of the best things to do.
When we had finished Lugeing and grabbed some lunch we traveled down to the car park in the Gondola. Just as we reached the half way point we noticed Kerry in the Stray bus with the rest of the passengers pull into the car park. He really is that good that he knew exactly how long it would take us, so everybody on the bus got to do what they wanted to do, even stuff that wasn’t officially on the Stray tour and nobody was inconvenienced or held up waiting for others, just what the doctor ordered.
We got on the bus and headed to Taupo. We had hoped to go from Taupo early next morning to do the Tongariro crossing, a full day hike that takes you over the mountain used for Mt. Doom. Unfortunately the weather was not looking good with high winds forecast and early indications were that the crossing would be closed. Sophie spent the afternoon having a snooze, and we headed off into town to check e-mails and to look at the shops. Graham bought a new pair of sunglasses which he was very pleased with. They were the same as a pair he had had for a long time, but were lost during a trip up the mountains a year or so previous.
We met up with Sophie and the rest of the bus fresh from their Skydiving and headed to Mulligan’s bar for a lump of stew and a feed of pints. With each round you were to play Rock, Scissors, Stone with the bar staff, and if you won, one of your drinks was free…. another benefit of being on Kerry’s bus! We spent the evening chatting to Katie and co the English chicks who were doing the North island only.