Rotorua Part 1

Crazy. That’s all I really have to say.

I was a little sad because this weekend was the color festival back in Provo and I missed it. I can’t help but feel that we made up for it though…in a big way. We went to both Hamilton and Rotorua for the weekend and it was one of my favorite weekends I’ve had in New Zealand. (That’s’ right…it even tops buying shirts for $1.97).

We started off by stopping on our way to the temple in Hamilton at a roadside stand called “Mama’s Donuts”. They were incredible! For a ballpark idea, if anyone has ever heard of Fractured Prune Donuts…they weren’t quite as good, but they come in as a pretty close second.

From the donut stand we could see the temple on a hill just across a field of cows. It was so pretty! It was even prettier up close. I am so thankful for the opportunity to go to the temple in another country! I don’t know if I was expecting it to be very different or what, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was exactly the same! I think the large number of our group overwhelmed them just a bit, but in a good way. They were all smiles. They were so happy to have so many people come in and help out! They told us that it was something that they were not used to so it was a rare treat. I was so happy to be a part of it.

From Hamiliton we traveled the rest of the way to Rotorua and it turns out that we could smell it before we even arrived. Rotorua is known for it’s natural hot springs and with that comes the unmistakable smell of sulfur that just lingers in the air. Occasionally you’d get a really bad whiff, but for the most part, it wasn’t so bad. We stayed at a family’s home who happened to be a long time friend of our tour guide, James. He knows everyone! This family is sweet enough to host the BYU girls in their home every year. They gave us the living room. The whole room. Blankets and mattresses and pillows covered the entire floor! We had a huge sleepover. For four nights in a row.

My snuggle buddies!

That night we went to a dinner theater where I watched the most interesting show of my life. I still do not completely understand what it was about. It was created by the person who’s house we were staying at it so we were not really supposed to talk about it while we were there. Let me just tell you a little bit about it. It was an interactive theater so the actors walked in and out of the audience. There was this “older” lady that scared me to death. She had this cane and she’d randomly poke you or prod you or SLAM it down on the table. And she made us do this dance. (Really, she MADE us…there really wasn’t an “I’ll pass” option). They all called it the “easiest haka”. It was not a haka. I do not know what it was but our entire group was dying we were all laughing so much.

[MORE PICTURES TO COME...I JUST DON'T HAVE THEM YET]

Then there was this male actor who I just couldn’t figure out. He switched roles every couple minutes. One second he came out wearing a kilt and the next second he came out pretending to be some king. Before you knew it he jumps out wearing old-fashioned striped underwear and starts dancing to “Splish Splash”. Let me tell you: that was highlight of the night. It was so funny. Mostly because I was sitting there, thinking really hard trying to make sense of the show, completely scarred from the dance that they made us perform, and then this man comes out and starts shouting like Mark Twain (trying to relate to us Americans, I’m sure) and I STILL DIDN’T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING THAT WAS GOING ON.

Please watch at your own risk:

I think all of us walked away from that show a little scarred for the rest of time. I have to say though, that the food was so good! I made myself sick, I was so full. I’d go back just for the food.

The next day we woke up early to ride the luge. My only experience with a luge had been the trail my dad molded in our backyard out of snow that we used to sled down. So really, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. We took a gondola ride to the top of a mountain and it was beautiful! Except my ears were popping the whole time.

At the top they handed out helmets and we were told to stand in the “First Time Riders” line.

Basically what you do is you sit in a tiny go cart that looks really similar to those flying turtle carts they let us ride in elementary school. When they told you to go, you pulled up on the handle bars and started moving down a track. You slowly start to gather speed until next thing you know you’re flying down this mountain in a tiny go cart…just like on MarioKart. It was so fun. Once you got to the bottom there was a tiny ski lift that took you back up to the top.

There were three different tracks you could choose from: Scenic, Intermediate, and Advanced. I have to admit, Scenic was my favorite…mostly because it was the longest and you were allowed to park your cart and get out along the way. Brittany and I would ride down, wait for each other and take pictures of all the things we saw along the way.

 

We even got pictures in the bathroom with our helmets.

And pictures on the ski lift.

This was after I was hit in the head.

I really hope this picture captures our excitement.

The workers turned out to be really unhelpful to those who’d never done something like this before. I guess they’d assumed that we all knew how to get on and off a ski lift properly. Guess what. Ski lifts don’t stop and wait for you to get on. You sort of have to jump at the right time. Well, I didn’t know this and I got whacked in the head. And did the worker care? No. He just told us “Stand on the line!” in a louder voice. Brittany said she was going to leave them a very strongly worded complaint in their comment box.

Right after luging we rushed over to the zorbing place. I have been DYING to go zorbing ever since I can remember. For those of you who don’t know exactly what that is…

 They put you in a ball and you roll on a track down a giant hill.

James, our instructor, gave it a try too!

He even gave a little jump!

Ok, really it’s a little more complicated than that and it’s brilliant. There is a smaller ball inside the larger ball and that ball has a small bit of water inside of it. Three of us are placed in the small ball with water and the water helps to keep us upright even though the ball is spinning so so fast as it rolls down the hill. It feels like you’re riding a giant slip-n-slide.

Eventually some of the guys asked us if we’d like to try being run over. Now with a question like that most people say “no, thank you…I think I’ll pass” but for some reason our entire group jumped at the opportunity. We all laid out on the grass in a neat little line with our faces in the ground. The ball came and flattened every one of us and it didn’t hurt at all! Not only did it not hurt, but the people in the ball didn’t even notice they’d run over about 15 of their friends.

We discovered at the end of our day that one of our instructors was actually THE INVENTOR OF ZORBING. Yes, he came up with that incredible idea! So, naturally we had to get a picture or two with him. It had been his idea originally, but then he sold the rights to it. Afterwards, seeing how people fell in love with it, he started it up again, but had to name it something different. The place that we went to was called OGO.

Since it’s fall (or “autumn” as they insist on saying here…haha) it’ s gotten a bit colder. We were all freezing as we waited around for our turn to zorb so when we got back to the house we all took a little dip in their hot tub…that’s filled with naturally hot spring water!

You just turn on the tap and out comes boiling water. How cool is that?

The next day was Sunday and we all got ready for church in another new ward. I love traveling as a large group to different wards and seeing all the tiny differences among the people of our church. Another thing I like is seeing their reaction as 20 girls walk into sacrament meeting and fill up two middle rows. Regardless of where we go they’re always so welcoming and happy to see us. They want to find out everything about us, why we’re here and where we’re all from, individually. The fact that all of us go to school in Utah is never a good enough answer because they know that there is more to it than that.

Later that night we all went back to the dinner theater and cooked a huge buffet dinner there because of the bigger kitchen. We made Navajo tacos (which are called something different here, but I forget the name) and they were delicious! We divided into a serve crew and a clean up crew so I felt right at home cleaning up after an event! It’s weird how I miss catering so much. I didn’t really think I would…haha.

That night we went driving around Rotorua and James took us to see some beautiful lakes just at sunset. One of the lakes was very sacred the Maori people and we were only allowed to see it from a distance. There are no roads that lead to it and it’s blocked off. I never found out its story. Afterwards we drove down the shores of another lake and looked across at a volcano that erupted a long time ago and destroyed many Maori villages. (I think that that’s what the dinner show had been trying to depict…that’s my closest guess.) It was all beautiful and we were lucky enough to see it all just as the sun was setting. 

And those were the first three days of my trip! The next two are yet to come! So...stay tuned.