MOST EXCITING RIDE OF MY LIFE -NEW ZEALAND JOURNEY

BLOG POST 17

Finally we reached Rotorua ,I suddenly saw steam coming out from the ground and my instant thought was” oh God there is a fire !” and spelt it loud, immediately to be shut down by my husband who caustically said “my dear we are in geyser and hot springs land, the one and only Rotorua “

Situated on the southern shore of a lake is Rotorua, one of New Zealand’s largest tourist destinations, a geothermal paradise that has attracted visitors from around the world for over 160 years.

 It is renowned for its fascinating Maori culture, its hot springs, boiling mud pools, spouting geysers, warm geothermal springs and silica terraces.

Rotorua is rich in Maori culture and is home to the ‘Te Arawa’ people who settled here 600 years ago, today they offer the visitor the opportunity to experience authentic traditional Maori villages, such as the Buried Village, Whakarewarewa, Te Puia, Mitai and Tamaki Maori village.

We alighted at the The Sudima Hotel Lake Rotorua that enjoys a location that is second-to-none on the very shores of beautiful Lake Rotorua, adjacent to the world famous Polynesian Spa complex ,after freshening up we had a walk around ,seeing the lake Rotorua and gardens, there sure was a distinctive, sulfurous smell of geothermal activity  

We settled into the peaceful lakeside setting and enjoyed lush spa therapy in mineral spring hot pool at Polynesian spa while taking in the views of Lake Rotorua. The spa was voted among the world's Top Ten Spa's by Conde Nast Traveller Magazine.

 We were strictly instructed to remove all metal ornaments as they would simply dissolve in the water

That night during the complimentary buffet dinner suddenly Tony announced a cake cutting ceremony for a lovely couple from Australia. It was the 50^th wedding anniversary of the young looking couple, none of us could believe it, apparently they were married very young at 17 and 15 yrs

Next day we got up and left for Rotorua’s most popular attraction ‘Skyline Gondola’  which is a scenic ride to the top of Mt. Ngongotata which has a dormant volcano and is 487 metres above sea level . The 900 metre long Doppelmayr cableway system transported our group on a gentle, scenic ride up to the Skyline Rotorua complex.

 The gondola was very clean and the view from it was awesome ,we could see right across to the entire city  with its spectacular geothermal vistas ,it sure needed us to get used to the sights of steam arising randomly across the city and beautiful blue lake with lovely slopes ,lush gardens with beautiful flowers and sheep gazing the grass and looking at us sleepily wondering what we were doing so early in the day

We were immediately directed us to the cableway restaurant where we had the best breakfast of our tour in north island , coupled with decor of the restaurant ,warm service and the panoramic views through the big windows it was a culinary and visual treat for all of us

After the breakfast Tony came to us with the news that now we could go for the luge ride. Luge, a gravity-fueled ride where we can zoom down the side of a mountain in a four-wheeled cart,with a unique braking and steering system before catching a chair lift to the top to do it all over again.This is where the luging adventure all began in 1985.

 For the whole family, Skyline Luge has three tracks of differing skill levels winding through numerous twists in a beautiful red wood forest.

Now we went through the precautions to be taken before riding the luge and there was a big list which included, among other rules that one must be in good health and be free of height conditions, motion sickness, back problems or other physical limitations. Expectant mothers should not ride.

This made me hesitate as I had slight cervical spondylosis but I saw our valiant friend who had a recent hip replacement striding forward to take the helmet and I steeled my nerves and divested myself of the handbag to our Tony who loaded himself very sportively with all our lose articles which we were not supposed to take on the luge

We went to select the helmets feeling like warriors going for a dangerous ride

After a short wait we stepped into the luges ,listened to the instructions and got going ,I was too engrossed in handling the luge to look around and within minutes we were at the bottom of the hill and rode  the Luge chairlift back to the top of the track with our luges attached to it ,on the way we had a wonderful view.It sure was an exhilarating experience ,I was glad I could get rid of my inhibition and do the best ride of my life

 Once up top, one can choose to Luge, Mountain Bike, Zoom Zipline, Skyswing, check out the nature trails, shop at the Jelly Belly Store, enjoy Volcanic Hills wine tasting and dine at Market Kitchen or Stratosfare Restaurant. 

As per our tour schedule we had  time only for a look at the jelly belly store where we could see famous paintings like the Mona Lisa created using over 18,000 jelly beans and bought some jelly beans from a selection of over 100 flavors of gourmet jelly belly beans