Hi all
Its been several days of full on actions. 18/12/15 – 21/12/15
We spent 2 nights in Auckland at the Ibis hotel. Very central and inexpensive considering. We enjoyed the journey there but especially traveling through Orewa on the Hibiscus Coast in Auckland. This very trendy cosmopolitan area was beautiful and somewhere where we would love to settle in after our trip. It had gorgeous white sandy beaches and as the sun was shinning so brightly it looked amazing. Again full of shops, cafes and boutique shops. Loved it. It was great to meet up with our friends Sara and Jin who drove around Mission Bay and Ellerslie, both really nice areas to which I had not been to before. We also went out on the town. It was the first time in ages we hadn’t gone to bed on the day we woke up, i.e. we stayed up passed midnight. We were so proud of ourselves visiting the great nightlife on the harbour. Also it was my first time up the Sky Tower, however this was after the clubbing night before, I had a serious bout of vertigo and could not get to the edge, or even walk on the glass floor. No hangover but seriously felt it. Tina on the other hand was bouncing about all over the place, and loved every minute of it. Yep2 days of city high life and we were ready for something at a slower pace so off we want to Rotovegas.
As soon as we got to Rotorua we researched things to do and within an hour or so went to Hells Gate. Named after a visit from George Bernard Shaw. A truely fantastic place where we had a hot (and I mean HOT), thermal mud spa, followed by a sulphur spa. What a stink, but fun smothering ourselves with clay like mud. Even funnier trying to shower it all off. The impressive geothermal reserve covers 10 hectares with a 2.5km walking track to the largest hot thermal waterfall in the southern hemisphere. Great relaxing therapeutic activity.
The following day we booked to go on the Canopy Tours, where we were transported high into the trees to complete many zip wire rides and swing bridges. Not for the faint hearted as one of the zip wires is 22 meters high and 220 meters long. Great fun and certainly gets the heart pumping. This 3 hour trip is great value as you also get 2 guides who talk to us about fauna and flora. High in the trees you get a better understanding of the wild life that live there. Such an adrenalin rush. After a quick lunch we got in the car and visited The Hobbit Movie Set of Hobbiton. We were not sure what to expect but it was AMAZING. Fully guided 2 hour tour with full explanation of how filming was done on this actual set. Including a tree which was made out of metal and all its leaves had to be wired on by hand. Then 10 days before filming started Sir Peter himself was not happy with the shade of green on the leaves so he ordered the set crew to repaint 1000s of leaves a different shade by hand, and due to its size they had to be craned in above the tree. It was a magnificent trip. Plenty of activities for all ages here on Rotovegas for all abilities, however you may need to get your bank managers approval as everything is quite expensive, but fully worth it.
So what I thought would be a few days relaxing has turned out to be a very hectic adrenalin rush BUZZ.