Saturday, February 7, 2009
What a great day! We started with a 40 minute walk for coffee at Friends restaurant. After showering and getting ready, we headed out for the day. The first agenda item required the location and purchase of a new camera (we settled on a Nikon S550).
With our camera dilemma resolved, we headed toward Rotorua to Zorb. Along they way we stopped at these boiling mud pools. Rita took some movies for us since we didn’t have the battery charged in our camera. We then drove up to Zorb. Mike went down first. The Zorb operators were not sure that we could Zorb the traditional method because of wind. Everyone was going down with the water in the Zorb technique, but we wanted to go down using the dry technique where you are strapped into the Zorb and rotate – we wanted the original. Mike was offered up as the sacrificial test run and if the Zorb operators deemed it safe, then the rest would be good to go down the traditional (dry) method. Troy decided he was going and then Rita agreed she would go. So I too was compelled to go. It was kind of fun in a quirky way and left you quite dizzy when exiting the Zorb.
After this adventure, we went into Rotorua city centre and had lunch at Seismic Gastrobar. It was excellent and our waiter told us a lot about the different NZ wine regions. Troy was able to grab some electricity and charge up the camera battery. Next stop was Tutea’s falls where we watched kayakers ride the falls. We then stopped at the grocery store to buy some snacks for dinner tonight.
At our place (The Reef Resort), Mike, Rita and I swam in the pool and sat in the hot mineral pool. We then walked down to Taupo Lake where Mike and I went in. The lake was very different. When we entered the water, it was warm then cold. We then realized if you dig your feet into the sandy bottom it would get very hot to the point you had to pick your feet up and move to a different spot. It was pretty cool experience (hot actually). Troy wasn’t feeling well after Zorb and lunch. It was pretty hot out today so he spent this time reading and resting in the air-conditioned room.
Our room had a balcony, so after the experience at the Lake, Troy was back on his game and assembled the snacks we picked up earlier in the day and we ate our dinner on our balcony and watched the sun set. We tried to see some stars (we were looking for the southern cross), but it was a little light out by our place so we couldn’t see much of the stars.
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