Rotorua Part 2

So we left off just as we were leaving the Maori lakes, right?

            After that we went home and all just hung out for a little while doing sleepover stuff and what not. A group of us played Boggle against James who was previously the reigning champ. Guess who’s the new reigning champ??? That’s right. Yours truly.

            The next morning we woke up and headed off to a place called “The Agrodome” to see a sheep show. I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect since my only experience with sheep shows has been Babe. I was hoping that they might have a sheep-herding pig at this event as well.

As it turns out I wasn’t disappointed. It wasn’t anything like Babe, but I was introduced to 19 different breeds of sheep. Including my favorite: Abraham the Lincoln. Haha.

They showed us exactly how sheep were sheered and it seemed like quite the violent process. It’s just like getting a hair cut though…all over. 

After the show we were all invited up on the stage to take pictures with the 19 sheep stars, the two sheep herding dogs, the cow, and the ducks.

The sheep and I put together a little myspace pic for you all!

Once we’d taken as many pictures as our hearts desired we all hopped onto a large trailer on the back of a tractor and were given a personal tour of the farm. We saw…

A donkey

 Sheep

 Cows

More Sheep

an Emu

Llamas

Goats

Ostriches 

Kiwi Trees!

Once the tour was over they told us that, if we so desired, we could go inside and pet the baby animals. It was so fun! They had little lambs, bunnies, and this weird rooster thing. I was so excited. The little animals were so cute! I came to a realization while trying to hold the animals: I am incapable of correctly holding a baby sheep. See for yourself:

After our little adventure on the farm James took us downtown for some more souvenir shopping. When we got home we took a quick dip in the hot tub before heading back to the dinner theater for FHE Karaoke Night Extravaganza! It was so fun! One of the highlights of the night was singing Miley’s “Party in the USA” because there’s really no better way to represent America…haha. Then there was Spice Girls, Dixie Chicks, Journey, Queen, and of course Beyonce. By the end of the night everyone was up dancing and singing. There really wasn’t any need for the microphones.

I fell asleep within a matter of minutes that night. We all woke up early to clean up and to hit the road by 9:30 am. Our plan for the day was to head home, but we had one big stop to make on the way. We had an 11:45 appointment with THE GLOWORM CAVES!

It was so incredible! I thought that the last cave I’d walked through had been exhilarating, but it was nothing compared to this! We were split into two groups because they could only take in 12 people at a time. My group was the second group and the anticipation was crazy waiting to go inside. They had warned us it would be cold down there, but they assured us that we’d be just fine because they were giving us wetsuits. Well, let me tell you. It was still cold.

They gave us little booties to put on first. Then a nice brown fuzzy layer (that they said would give the “illusion” of warmth). Then wetsuit overalls. Then a really, really attractive wetsuit jacket. Then a helmet with a flashlight on the front of it. I think that may have been the most attractive I’ve ever looked in my life:

This is me after my practice jump!

This is not actually me...but it's cool, right?

The caves themselves were incredible! I was a little nervous…just because I don’t particularly like being underground for so long, but it was so fun. We had to practice jumping backwards into the water with our tubes and screaming really loud. They recommended screaming because it helped us exhale while we fell into the water. We went over waterfalls and underneath very, very low rocks. After the second waterfall we all grabbed the feet of the person behind us and formed what they called “the eel”. Our guide sang his own rendition of “My Heart Will Go On” as we floated beneath a very large cavern. As we looked up we could see millions and millions of glowworms, like stars on the ceiling of the cave. After the “eel” formation we all slowed down and our guides told us to turn off our lights. They said that the exit was near, but that we would be able to use our lights to find it. It was so exhilarating paddling around in the dark! Eventually you could see a little bit of light coming from just around the corner. At first I suspected it was a trick and that it was just a light placed down in the caves…but no. It really was the sun! And once again, it was beautiful!

*A little insider: It turns out that “glowworm” is actually a misnomer. We were informed by our guide that what actually glows is their poop. It’s some sort of chemical reaction. It also turns out that they’re not actually worms…they’re maggots. They are quite the creature. They spend their time making silk strings to catch other bugs and then mating with one another. After they’re done mating they die and their eggs hatch on their own. The first egg to hatch is hungry so it turns around and eats the first thing it sees…which just so happens to be it’s unhatched brothers and sisters. These are mean bugs. So really, instead of seeing glowworms on the ceiling we’re looking at “a carnivorous, cannibalistic maggots’ shiny poop glowing on the ceiling” as the guides so nicely put it.

They had hot showers, toasted bagels and warm soup waiting for us after our expedition in the caves. It was so fun! I loved our guides and I loved the experience. I’m so glad I got to do it! And I’d recommend it to anyone.

After the caves we all piled into the vans once again and raced to Hamilton hoping to reach this ice cream shop before it closed. The good news was that we made it in time! They had the best priced ice cream I’ve seen since being here in New Zealand! I did my best to take advantage of that. I ended up getting a triple scoop and I loved every bite of it. 

And so ends part 2 of the Rotorua trip. If you missed part 1 click here! (I added a couple more pictures)