Rotorua, Taupo

Next part of my journey included Rotorua and Taupo. Taupo’s actually just a lake so we went there on the third day of our 4-day stay. But anyway the weather wasn’t that great so we didn’t manage to go white-water rafting at Kaituna (I think that’s how you spell it). T.T

Amazingly enough, the first place we went to was… Nando’s. I’ve only been to Nando’s in Malaysia once before so I couldn’t really compare. But the most interesting thing about it was the toilet signs. Which, I must say, will be extremely, hair-pullingly, annoyingly misleading when you’re in a rush.

Terence actually went into both before he figured out which was which. So to those coming to New Zealand, please remember these two very important words!

And since it was raining and there wasn’t much to do anyway the girl at i-Site told us that going for the luge when it’s raining is quite fun. So off we went to the gondola.

No pictures beside the ones taken inside the gondola because after that we were totally soaked and freezing our asses off. And if the luge itself wasn’t exciting and cold and windy enough we had to go up the chairlift 4 times. Mind you, 4 times on a 15-minute trip with all of you exposed to the elements isn’t that great. So much for i-Site’s ‘advice’, never trust everything you hear.

By the way the jackets didn’t help because it soaked right through and became super heavy, as was my pants. So the whole time I was busy shivering and making sure my pants were still on me. Heh.

By the way, the luge is something like go-kart, except you do it down the hill and there’s no motor. It’s just you, the hill, and hopefully the brakes work.

Next day we went to some 3D maze thingy which wasn’t very fun cos we got lost and walked and walked and got real tired. And there’re spider webs too. =.=

In Rotorua we went Zorbing and Swoop too. Which was totally fun although I didn’t try the swoop cos I’ve done bungy before so I reckoned it’ll be the same feeling. Plus I was a bit short in cash. Next time must remember to earn more first before going.

Zorb:

Swoop (which starts at 43m high):

Yes, this is Boon and Terence. It feels like going on the pirate ship thing at Genting except there’s no ship, just a big plastic bag.

At the Swoop place you can also see sheep mountain sheep sea. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you New Zealand.

Next! Wai-O-Tapu (I dunno why there are so many dashes, must be keyboard spoil) which is a thermal park/place/thingy.

And yes, still raining.

But I was so brave and didn’t buy a poncho. Stupid brave me.

I think rain made the pools give out more steam la so it was foggy at the champagne pool. The champagne pool’s super nice la got lots of colours but too bad cannot take proper pic cos too foggy + raining.

Anyway there was this Lady Knox geyser which was supposed to be quite nice and all but all we did was take random pics, like so:

The geyser was quite stupid la the guy threw some soap in to ‘break surface tension lalala more scientific words’ before the geyser erupted (do they?). But anyway quite cool also if this was in my house cos everytime wash clothes and ask people to pay entrance fee to watch!

Damn good idea.

Taupo is famous for its lake. So here’s an obligatory picutre of it:

It was quite cloudy which was good cos we saw rainbow! (Omg why la I like this looking for silver lining in every cloud)

But I still think that the big longkang in Taupo was the best.

The platform on the right is the bungy platform. So if you want to you can touch the big longkang’s water if you want to. No buaya no worries.

Taupo people pee blue pee so cool la. Must be drink too much Powerade.

Anyway it was waktu senja soon enough so we headed back to the lake. Paragliding looks super fun so I must must must try it once I have the chance. And hopefully I won’t be afraid of heights la when I’m doing it else I’ll be increasing sea volume.

Evening + long drive back + approaching rain = going back.

I know this post is getting quite long so hence the last scenery picture!

This is the lake outside Sudima Hotel in Rotorua. Please please don’t stay there unless you like the smell of sulphur cos apperently the lake’s full of sulphur so you can forever smell the wonderful smell of half-rotten eggs all the time. So cool.

So balik! (I’ve been to all three places hahaha I win)