New Zealand Day 4 Rotorua: Wai-O-Tapu Geothermal Wonderland, Zorb

Rotorua: Wai-O-Tapu Geothermal Wonderland, Zorb

Hotspring! When we arrived in Rotorua yesterday night we had to wind up the car windows... because the whole town stank of sulphur(egg-like smell). It's quite bearable for a few days, but I can't imagine growing up here. I mean, picture you bringing your girlfriend out on a romantic date, or confessing your love...all the most important and precious moments in your life will be tainted with the suphur stink lol. 

I would like to introduce you to.. Lady Knox Geyser, an attraction of Wai-O-Tapu!

It erupts every morning at 10:15am; obviously not naturally. A guide will come and give a short explanation, then throw some soap thing into the geyser which is supposed to break the tension of the water underground then *BOOM*

I didn't think it would be exciting since we know it was going to erupt, but it was! We were in high spirits after watching it. Great way to start our day!

our sexy model poses

the unflattering back side lol

L.O.V.Eヾ(￣∇￣=ﾉ

E.V.I.L stupid guy beside us who knew we were trying to take a picture but still wouldn't budge away

There are a few other very famous hotsprings in Rotorua like Hell's Gate and Waimangu but we decided to go with Wai-O-Tapu because it's the most colorful one ^^v

This particular pool is aptly named Artist's Palette. The colors are caused by minerals.

blue                                 alkali-chloride

cloudy yellow/green     acid sulphate

orange                            antimony/arsenic

grey                                carbon

green/yellow                 sulphur/arsenic  

A walk around Wai-O-Tapu doesn't take that long. I think our walk was less than 2 hours? 

lol no I did not fall.

But I thought I was a lot better at balancing than this! I couldn't stay still at all.

Note that my feet are in the air.

Joyce surfing the railing

I know it looks like a hot sunny day but it was actually very cold and I remember feeling chilly the whole time lol. The things I do for good pictures.

camera's super vivid mode.

Really happy I get to hang out with Joyce one last time (well... hopefully not the last time). Her house was a sanctuary where I could go when I was bored or hungry lol.  Going swimming with her every week was pretty addicting too. It felt weird to not meet her at least one a week when we stopped going at December because we got busy, 

After the hotspring, we did ZORB!!

This is the zorb place. So leng ヽ(*￣▽￣*)ﾉ

We used OGO Rotorua which was only a 5～10-minute drive from Rotorua city centre. There are basically two types of zorbing: one which they fill the ball with some water and you slip and slide inside while the ball rolls down the hill and the other one is you get harnessed so you go head over heels all the way down. I would have liked to try the harness ogo but the price was nearly twice as much.

After Wai-O-Tapu, we went back to Crank Backpackers to book the zorb thing because they had a lot of good offers. Normally bookings are not required because well.. it takes less than 30seconds for the ball to roll down so it's unlikely that you would have to wait long even if there were a lot of people? Anyway, with Crank Backpackers, Harness Ogo becomes NZ$60->NZ$50 and the H20GO straight track becomes NZ$45->NZ$35. Quite a lot, no?

But in the end we decided to ride a ball together which price was originally $35 per person. Max was three people so we spilt into two teams.

And it was the RIGHT choice!

Definitely a lot more fun screaming and sharing the experience with someone than going alone. We (well, me actually) contemplated whether it would be more worth the money if we go down alone since the price is the same.

My only complaint would be that the ball wasn't transparent enough. Would definitely add to the excitement if I could see the blue sky and the lush green surrounding zooming by.

Cat-like Joyce with meowmeow.

After zorbing we went to jalan2 at rotorua town again before heading back Auckland. As always feel that the day was wasted because we only did 2 activities for the whole day. Wanted to do the Agrodome  where we can see the sheep performance (ﾉ゜д゜)ﾉ.

But we were around 15 minutes short of time to make it to the last show of the day. First world problem where your friends are super rich that they don't mind going all the way to NZ just to relax in the hostel LOL. Would have spent more time in Wai-O-Tapu if I had known earlier.

Oh, well still tons better than their original plan to reach Auckland by 5pm to return the car. We would have had to leave around 1 pm if so. Thank god that after asking the car rental company, we found out it was ok as long as we return the  car before the next morning. We just had to toss the keys into a box near the garage. 

And so we begin our journey back to Nomad Fat Camel... not exactly looking forward.

     $$$$$$$  

Wai-O-Tapu   NZ$29.3

Zorb   NZ$35

Nomads Fat Camel   NZ$19