NZ-2009-Rotorua

8 mars 2009

It is the rain who woke us up this time, but it made the landscape so green that we weren't annoyed...well yes we were a bit annoyed, but not that much.

Stop at the gaz station, which is also a "snack bar"

and a post office

On the way to Rotorua !

In december I had taken at the library, 2 DVD made by a german couple who had visited NZ and gave their tips about the recommanded activites. We then heard that WE HAD TO visit Rotorua, well known for its geo-thermic activity. THe city also got a huge lake which has welcomed the sea-ski worldcup in 2007 (we will discover along our trip that the sea-ski in lake is really popular, and when you see the area of their lake and the roughness of the ocean, you understand better why it is so). What has to be seen there it's Geyers. mud-pool with a perfume of sulfure...feels like goin there hmm ?

Cow's attack:

We stoped on the side of the road, to take some photoshots. On the way back to the car, the cows ran all together, closer to us, and were looking straight at us. Have you seen the Hittchcok movie "the birds" ? It was exactly the same but with cows....scary !!!

In fact we wanted to go tothis parc, where they bake eggs in a hot water source (yes I know, sound really for turists) and where you can also see a lot of lacs with different colors due to the different metals (Copper, Zinc...). But the woman at the turist office didn't get me right or just sold us her "business" and we have ended up here.

All the pictures are in the album "Rotorua" or by clic here.

Only on the geo-thermic side, it was a bit less than the other park, but the guide tour was included in the price, and the park welcome also the "carving" school : Maori art of Wood sculpture, as well as captiv Kiwi (the only ones we had seen), so all together, we didn't lose much.

We have seen one the higher Geyser in activity (around 15m heigh I think), mud-pools (a bit funny, looks like mud-frogs jumping), smoke coming out from nowhere.....

The carving school was also interesting. To get in you must be male, below 30 and having some Maori blood. Well for my new job I can't count on that !!p>

Not that we were bored, but it was already 16h and time for lunch. We found a cool bar, the Fat dog cafe.

1st discorvery of local seafood. In fact, New-Zealand has its own specie of Mussel: Green Mussels!! They are not really green, the shel is, but they are huuuge!! And so, in opposite to what we can find in other animals, all their organs are proportionally huuuge, and that's how, during all our stay, weither it was ginger marinated mussels, ´white wine mussels, mussel salad and so on, we always removed their....PENIS !!! No I am not kidding, and you can have the prove on the following pictures:

Cheri very happy with his salad and his local "Tui" beer, and the brownish stuffs which are huge as a schrimp (almost) are the penis: enjoy your lunch !!

Anyways, soon the evening appreared, and this time we thought to book our hotel on time. We will spend the night in Tairua, to be close to the "hot water pools" where we want to go the day after...sounds good, but 200kms and 3h driving are ahead, we hit the road !

Tairua is on the Coromandel peninsula: one of the best spot for the guys from Auckland because it is only 2-3h drive from the city, and got awesome beachs, waves for surfers, amazing hikking tracks... The Coromandel itself worse 2 weeks of visit.

To tell the truth we had a hard time on the road, we had to be at the hotel before 21h, and of course, the road were everything but straight nor flat !! We arrived just on time, but unfortunatly it was already dark and we couldn't go for a walk. At low tide, you can reach the hill on the other side of the village "the one going on the top will come back in 7 years"....Obviously it won'T be any of us. Next time ! We just refreshed ourself with the daily beer ;) and went, completly smashed, straight to bed !

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