A few mates were down in Rotorua for work purposes so it was a good opportunity to catch up for a weekend of fun and frolics. Bailing from work early on friday, Tracey and myself made a dash for the vegas and made it in time for dinner. Curry. And a superb curry at that - very rare for New Zealand. It was to set a theme for the weekend though. Not an indian theme - that would be odd, but one of excesses I think. Waaaaaaay to much food, drink and heaps and heaps of fun. Time was limited so my aim was to reduce faff to a minimum. Hmmmm easier said than done.
Saturday was an early start. Nursing a slight hangover we grabbed breakfast and planned the day. Zorbing was on the menu but we decided that we should perhaps let the breakfast go down, and let the hangover clear first!!! First port of call was gokarts, mini golf and segways. Segways are those weird two wheel things that always stay upright. They are perhaps the coolest thing ever!!!! I want one. Surprisingly easy to master (although I made a good job of crashing one). I think they are the future of inner city commuting.
Next stop was the luge. Three wheeled tea trays zooming down a concrete track. Superb. Such good fun although Darren employed some Schumacher dirty tactics to gain a so called victory by running me off the road. Shorts and t-shirt, concrete and travelling at speeds of 40kph don't mix especially well. Great fun though. Then it was off to the Zorb!!!
For those that don't know, a Zorb is a large inflatable ball, which you then climb inside of and get rolled down a hill. A sport born a bred in New Zealand. After a brief safety chat (hahaha as if I was paying attention) we caught the shuttle to the top. I was in a duel Zorb with Becky. And a wet one at that. The most worrying part for me was getting in the thing. The hole is tiny. And you literally have to dive head first through it to land in the Zorb. I had visions of me missing and landing in a heap!!! Haha. Thankfully my aim was spot on and I landed in a nice pool of warm water. Becky followed and we were zipped up and were ready to go. Three taps on the side and we and we had to walk forward. What happened next was all a bit of a blur of somersaults, limbs, water and shrieks of fun. Brilliant. Your orientation becomes completely shot and tumble down the hill trying to gain some form of control. Keeping upright is impossible.
Soon it was over - I think we were only in there for 30 odd seconds, but it seemed like ages. And it was SO much fun. From the outside it does look like not much. I was a little dubious. But inside the thing it is just chaos and hilarity. I would totally TOTALLY recommend it to anyone.
Our 'extreme' day was finished by some pub grub and a very chilled dip in the hot pools in town. Then it was out for drinks and more food. More food than you could possible imagine.
The Sunday was spent doing the geothermal stuff. This stuff totally fascinates me and I am sure I have been on about on here before so I won't waste much time now. To sum it up, it smells of rotten eggs, has loads of pretty colours and steams and gloops a lot.
The tractor doesn't actually go all the way to the top. There is a 15 minute board walk right to the summit. But the views from the top are superb. Over to Waiheke and the Coramandel beyond, the North Shore, and of course the city itself.
