The rental house was flying the colors of the "All Blacks," the New Zealand rugby team that famously did the haka before each match to intimidate their rivals.
That day we were scheduled to go rafting at a river right near our rental house, but due to the recent rains, the water was too high. So instead the company took us an hour south to another river, which they said was actually a better, longer run anyway. (I believe it was the Rangitaiki River, though they took us in a bus, so I was never quite sure where we were).
They gave us several minutes of training in the raft before we got in the water, to make sure we knew how to follow instructions, including how to forward paddle, back paddle, how to "hold on" without bonking someone with our paddle, and how to "get down" into the boat when things got dicey.
And it did get pretty exciting! The rapids were awesome, and I found myself a bit surprised that they let us do them! I think we had all wondered if the training was really necessary, but after the first massive set of rapids, I heard Melissa declare, "I am going to do exactly what he says!" I think the river got our attention.
I was supposed to keep my hands on the oars for the most exciting rapids, so I don't have video footage of that, but here are a couple of clips from later on down the river.
I like how the audio at the end of this one makes it sound like we went underwater.
The day was gorgeous and the scenery was amazing, with slopes on both sides completely covered in a mix of pine and palm trees.
The water was high, so the water came right up to the bushes and trees.
Our guide was a Maori guy who offered some words in Maori out of respect for nature (somewhat like a prayer).
When things got too calm, we sometimes had to stir up our own "white water" with a friendly water fight with the Europeans, after which our guide would have us yell, "`Merica!"
In one calm area we jumped in, which was fun but pretty darn cold.
When we reached the end of our run, we put the rafts away and hopped back on our bus.
One guy had cut his finger a bit, so our guide opened up their first aid kid. Inside was, among other things, a folding rusty saw blade! I asked what in the world that was in there for!? Here he is pretending to take care of the guy's hurt finger with the rusty saw.
To get your wet suit off, you peel the top part down, lie down, and the guys just rip it right off you. And then you just hope that whatever you're wearing underneath stays put.
It was an awesome rafting trip, and we were pleased with how the change in plans worked out.
Once we were back in Rotorua, we walked around the "Government Gardens", where Rob had parked the car.
Here's Linette in a cute gazebo. (Or, more accurately, cute Linette in a gazebo.)
There were beautiful hydrangeas wherever we went.
The building at the Government Gardens looked both European and Maori.
It looks like this tree has been growing around that fence post for some time...
The roots of some of the trees were really interesting.
Our next stop was a redwood forest nearby. It had been planted in 1901, so I was expecting tiny redwoods, but it turns out that they grow really fast there, so there were some impressive trees, and the whole area reminded me of my childhood in California and Oregon.
Apparently the wood from these trees isn't very useful for construction, because the trees grow so fast that they don't have the density of a California redwood. But they still look cool!
One difference is that in New Zealand there were also a lot of palm trees mixed in with the redwoods.
Rob is so buff!
There was a scaffolding you could pay to go walk on, but we were content with the free hike on the ground. It was such a serene place.
Once back in Rotorua, we went souvenir shopping, and I had fun chatting with the Korean owners of the store where we bought stuff. We often saw some common Maori symbols. This swirl is called the "koru", and symbolizes "new beginnings, growth and regeneration." It is meant to look like a fern frond, and goes with the saying, "Ka hinga atu he tete-kura - ka hara-mai he tete-kura", or, "As one fern frond dies - one is born to take its place". Kind of like "The Circle of Life."
And this twisty symbol is called the "pikorua", and represents the path of life, and symbolizes the strong bond between loved ones, as the arms of the twist have no end point, just like enduring relationships.
As we wandered around town wondering where we would find our next meal, we bumped into a couple from northwestern Mexico and had a nice chat with them in Spanish.
After far too much waffling, we finally ended up eating tasty gourmet burgers and shakes at a place called "Burger Fuel" (whose slogan is "Fuel for the human machine.")
That night we dropped Jon and Shauna at their friends' house for one last visit before their friends left the next day. Here is Jon modeling the hat he bought that day as a souvenir.
Meanwhile, the rest of us made use of the hot tub. We got out at one point to look at the stars, which were amazingly bright, since we were so far from any city lights. We couldn't see the Big Dipper from there, but I did see Orion. Then I was surprised to see that he was upside-down! (Which instantly made sense when I thought about it). I didn't know how to identify the Southern Cross, and apparently I was supposed to be looking for the Andromeda galaxy.
While we were trying to look at the stars, we heard a rustling in the bushes, and I shined a light down just in time to see this big hedgehog wander out of the bushes, glance around, and then mosey back in. Here's my terrible picture of it. (It's the brown fuzzy thing by the top step).
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| Hedgehog sneaking into the bush. |
In our next episode, we return to the beach, hike a hill, see some Maori performances, and get a look at Kiwi birds.
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