Monday, March 19, 2012

Rotorua day 1

we arrived in Rotorua & quickly came upon a Zorbing facility... ( google this one & know this is one of my "big 4 to do's" while in NZ. I passed on the first place & pulled into the second one we came to... They call it "ogo-ing"... & created & manufacture their own balls. (www.ogo.co.nz)
W/ very little hesitation I signed up & paid the fee, changed into some "wet clothes" & headed up the hill for a fun adventure!!

See this ball below- I'm in the center of it!! ;)


I laughed out loud from the time they zippered me into the ball w/ a few gallons of nice warm water till the time my ball stopped rolling at the bottom! *FUN*


Here I've landed & being unzippered...


Out I came - feet first!!


I came out smiling saying, " oh my God that was SO MUCH FUN!!!!"



Dry clothes & onto downtown Rotorua... I had been warned, but nothing can truly prepare you for the SMELL of this city!! It reeks of sulfur ... ( it's a geo- thermal hot bed of activity)


A bit hard to see but in this park we walked thru there is literally steam rising from the ground, water boiling ( as in this pic) ....



& mud burping up from the Earth!!


But the smell...ugh!!

Okay Madelyn, Lauren & Marshall here are your pictures for the day: :) ( animals found in New Zealand)

New Zealand Gray Duck mama & 3 babies...



We see these everywhere!! On the left is mama ( a pukeko bird), & on right is her (fuzzy) baby, not quite feathered out yet.



Pair of Black swans... ( found in Asia & New Zealand)



Lesley...this is for you, I know you'd love these glasses as much as I did!! :)




We met up w- Scott's friends as I mentioned in previous post, Noel & Debbie.. ( NZ falconers), falconers were JUST licensed in NZ, these two are pioneers of the sport here... They were THRILLED to meet & talk birds w/ Scott!!
Here is Noel & Scott doing "bird talk"...while Debbie kindly made us, "cottage pie" ( aka. Shepard's pie)


I, bored of bird talk, found a friend, Max.. ( don't be jealous Frannie- I love you more!!) but Max is a cutie...(Sarah.. Fox terrier & jack Russell mix adopted...) :)



We did enjoy some of Deb's namesake wine after dinner, then enjoyed a free spot in the driveway for our camper van & a warm shower inside in the a.m!!




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Location:Paradise Valley Rd,Ngongotaha Valley,New Zealand

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