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 I spelt it loudly, immediately to be shut down by my husband, who caustically said, “My dear, we are in geyser and hot spring 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 home to the ‘Te Arawa’ people who settled here 600 years ago; today they offer visitors 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 Sudima Hotel Lake Rotorua, which 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 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 the 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, Tony suddenly 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,

The 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 a beautiful blue lake with lovely slopes,lush gardens with beautiful flowers and sheep grazing the grass and looking at us sleepily wondering what we were doing so early in the day.

We were immediately directed to the cableway restaurant, where we had the best breakfast of our tour in North Island, coupled with the 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 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.

Skyline Luge has three tracks of differing skill levels winding through numerous twists in a beautiful redwood forest.

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 loose 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 luge, listened to the instructions and got going ,I was too engrossed in handling the luge to look around and scared. 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 inhibitions and enjoy 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; or 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 buy jelly beans from a selection of over 100 flavours of gourmet Jelly Belly beans.