Rotorua Journal & Photos - New Zealand - Lynx Travel - October 2000

Rotorua, New Zealand

2923-E Olney-Sandy Spring Road Olney, MD  20832 Phone: 301-774-4646 Fax: 301-774-3610

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October 11, 2000

We left about 8:15 AM and paid for the night before as we left.  The girl said she is always in the office but just turns off the lights after 8:00 PM so people don't bother her for buying the assorted sundries they had in the office.  She did thank us for not checking in though when we told her it was getting close to midnight.  We headed out of town and Scott's plans for a big run disappeared when we realized how windy it was.  He was really fighting the camper as we headed for Tongariro National Park.  It ends up being for naught because the rain has brought the clouds in so low you cannot see anything.  We did drive up to Whakapapa Village and its ski area.  We drove right up into the clouds and saw snow.  They are loading skiers into a shuttle to head for the top.  We can't take the camper any higher so we turn around.  We reached 1630 meters and from what I could see of the landscape it was very reminiscent of Haleakala on the Big Island of Hawaii.  I've finally caught up to present as we are on the road to Rotorua to see if we can do anything there.  Maybe if we get out of the mountains the weather will be better but that's not looking good for us now either.  We hope we can zorb in bad weather at least.

 We stopped at Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland on the way to Rotorua to do something.  Scott said it seems like we have been driving for three straight days which we almost have to get here.  On the way I figured our expenses and I officially owe Scott about $10 NZ now so I purchased his way into the park which was $13 NZ and they gave us a 10% discount.  The area reminds me a lot of Geyser Basin at Yellowstone on a smaller scale.  Lots of glassy looking pools and with lots of vibrant greens and yellows.  Spots that stood out, were the panoramic view of the Frying Pan area and Lake Ngakoro in the background peaking it's way through a man made forest which is supposed to be the largest in the southern hemisphere.  Bridal Veil Falls, my second falls of that name on this trip and third I've seen overall including one at Yosemite I think, which was small but colorful. Lake Ngakoro Waterfall and Lake Ngakoro which were pretty and really a big thermal lake, but it stands out more because Scott almost fell on his ass on the trail.  Wearing his flip flops since he thought it Wai-O-Tapu would be a quick stop instead of a hour long hike, he was ahead of me and when I crested a small hill he stopped me to show me his four foot long skid mark with one flop and a good tow foot skid with the second flop.  I can't believe how much I have written about Scott's footwear choices.  The best spot in my opinion was the Devil's Bath.  (Earlier at Devil's Ink Pots Scott asked me if I thought the devil was getting a bad rap which I thought was funny.)  I saw Devil's Bath because I took the correct trail back and Scott didn't.  He ended up on the path we took out originally and was waiting at the end when I showed up.  He asked how I found the path and I told him I really wasn't sure it was a path originally because it wasn't marked that well and it looked like you were just wandering aimlessly through the back end of the Champagne Pool.  I didn't even see Champagne Pool because of all the steam coming off of it was blowing right at me.  I really just followed three people in front of me to make the right choice.  I figured if they fell through any part of the walk way I could just turn around.  My own human guinea pigs.

The Devil's Bath was this almost neon looking green color.  The guide says the greener the color the higher the arsenic content of the water.  Overall it was a good stop.  Scott kept telling me how creepy he thought the place was but at the end did say he thought it was real cool.  We headed up the road a few kilometers and next stopped at the Mud Pots which again were a smaller version of the Yellowstone Mud Holes.  Mud Pots are creepy in my opinion but I do think the are really cool to watch.  Like boiling chocolate pudding almost.  We made a stop at the Waimangu Volcanic Valley but it was going to be at least another hour or two of walking down a valley so we decided to skip it and left it open to return to.  We came to Rotorua to make our plans for the next couple of days.  Again the rain just will not stop.

 Had lunch at the Pig & Whistle in Rotorua at about 3:00 PM.  The bar is the old police station of Rotorua.  We had a couple of there house beers. Swine Lager for myself and Snout Dark Ale for Scott.  Mine was good Scott never really told me how his was.  We finally had New Zealand Green Lipped Mussels and the were great.  I got a "good call" from Scott.  We followed them up with Pig Fries (Curly Fries) and some average Buzzard Wings (Chicken Wings).  The bartender told me we have to sledge and that it is a blast.  We did feel like real Neanderthal men when they brought us a bowl with water and lemon in it and we couldn't figure out what we were supposed to do with it.  After finishing the mussels Scott suggested it was to dip the mussels in to clean them of any sand and I told him he was probably right.  Then they brought another bowl with the wings and fries and I felt like a real moron when I realized they were finger bowls for cleaning up.  Cavemen don't need no stinking finger bowls.  We are idiots.  We did chose this bar though because Fat Dog's our original choice ended up having a foo foo write up in Scott's guide and we had enough of foo foo dog bars in Wellington.  We got our bearings and came about half a mile up the road from the city center and check our camper into the Acacia Holiday Park.  It was about 4:30 and we drove back out to see a Maori Show but they all had dinner with them so we decided to do that tomorrow maybe since we just ate.  Back to the camper park and we decide to extend our stay here a day since spots were filling up.  When I did that the owner told me we could sledge at 10:30 AM the next day.  I gave Scott the news and he was tormented because he still wants to do his three mile run.  He told me to go ahead and make a reservation and he would run from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM.  The guy at the sledging office was funny.  He ended every sentence with cool.  "You want to sledge? COOL, "There are two of you?, COOL."  I was almost laughing out loud and then realized he got me doing it. "Warmest river I'll ever be in huh, COOL".

I went out to try and get my film developed while Scott ran but couldn't find anything open but bars and internet spots.  I decided to wait for Scott to drink and spent 40 minutes emailing my two homes, Faunce and Ryan.  Scott was supposed to leave the keys in the compartment that hold our electricity outlet and it wasn't there.  I almost got really pissed since it was still raining but checked the door and it was open and heard the cry of "friend of foe".  He blew off his run to take a nap.  I loaded pictures of Wai-O-Tapu and updated journal.  Scott just woke up and is studying up for tomorrow so I guess were going to head out. So I will sign off being caught up again.

We went out for the evening about 9:00 PM and like every other town has been, it's a ghost town.  Scott mentioned that it is worse that anything he'd seen in Ocean City in the winter and even likened it to winter at Ocean City circa 1978.  We walked straight down our heading to Wild Willy's but instead stopped at Cameron's Bar first.  They served us a very warm Lion Red Beer.  They had some amusing signs up in the bar the my favorite being, "You're not drunk if you can lie on the floor without falling down."  To our dismay a guy walked in with a Yankee hat.  "We can't get away from them", said Scott.  Lots of Scottish memorabilia on the wall including a good poster about cold weather and what the Scotts compared to other places in the world.  It ended with hell freezing over and Scotland winning the World Cup.  We walked by Wild Willy's which was anything but, so headed on and back towards our camper since we had reached the end of town.  We stopped in at Churchill’s next and had a Churchill Draught which I liked.  The two bartenders reminded me of the gas station attendants be way too nice.  They were singing karaoke and just as we were getting to leave an older guy came up and said he saw me walking down the street earlier and that I was one big bastard.  We had met our guide for the night.  William McCowatt aka "Red" Vietnam War helicopter pilot now hospitality tutor.  He said he was a Kiwi but flew for Australia during the war.  We told him if he was a hospitality tutor now he was doing a great job because everyone is too nice.  We asked him where the nearest Irish Bar was since we had been to a Scottish and English Pub and wanted to keep the continuity of pubs of the United Kingdom going.  He told us it was O’Malley’s and started to give us directions than said "Oh Hell, I'll just go with you".  So off we went with our new friend.  At O'Malley's he gave us the story of him drinking Lion Red for 35 years and switching to Speight's Dark in June which he and Scott were drinking.  He also told us that as a hospitality tutor you had to explain how it takes bigger guys to more to get drunk and we explained to him our 2-1 beer drinking ratio/rule.  The oddest thing about O'Malley's was they had a round pool table.  We had our one beer, two for me, and were off to "Red's" next pub on his pub tour.  We go out and a cab is sitting their and Red asks about how much it will be to go to Oska's and the girl say about $3 NZ we hop in and the total fare ends up being $3.30 NZ, we get out and Red is arguing with the poor girl that she said $3 NZ.  He takes us to Oska's which ends up being free entertainment.  There is a little Oriental man named Tony who Scott guessed weighed at most 105 pounds who has owned Oska's for the last 24 years.  We walk in and the first thing you notice that there are a lot of you guys in there and only three girls.  A bartender girl who is in just her bra and panties, and two girls who work at the bar hustling these guys at pool while wearing there underwear and nighties.  It is not a strip club though because they stayed clothed though the whole time.  Tony is an absolute character out of a bad Chinese B movie.  He sits at the bar and can talk a mile a minute and has a mouth on him that would embarrass Francis.  He wanted me to spin his Stupid Wheel for $10 NZ against him, but I knew better than to gamble any money against this man on his own wheel, in his own bar.  Scottie then told him if he wants to gamble me then it has to be at arm wrestling.  My right arm might have weighed more than this little guy.  He was telling some story, I could barely understand him, and at one point I thought he said while looking at me if you were a woman.  I stopped him and said back if I was a woman I'd be a huge one.  He stops his story and says "You want a woman?â€