Taupo & Rotorua

o0O0o what's that smell? - eggs

Thursday, April 24th
All 20 of us hopped on the coach bus for our last Loyola-sponsored trip where every meal was paid for and we lived like kings in our hotel suites. On our way to Taupo we stopped off at the Glow Worm Caves. We took a tour of the caves and looked at all the different caverns. Then we took a boat tour where we got to view thousands of green glow worms in pitch black and complete silence. Of course when the tour guide crashed the boat I laughed but at than that, it was a spooky experience. We weren't allowed to take any photos so I grabbed some from the internet :) We then made our way to Lake Taupo which is a famous lake in New Zealand. Unfortunately, it was a cloudy day but there were beautiful mountains that we could see the next morning. That night I had lamb for the first time since being in New Zealand, it was delicious.

Friday, April 25th
We visited Huka Falls which was water from Lake Taupo. Afterwards we went on the Huka Jet. We got to wear really cool outfits and rode around for 30 minutes. We skimmed wicked close to cliffs and did 360 degree spins in the water. We got to ride right up to the base of the falls which was awesome. We visited Waimangu Thermal Valley where we took a tour of the geothermal valleys. It was so cool to see all the smoke rising up from the lakes and random areas of the valley. Our guide told us about a man who stuck his foot in once and  his skin swelled up and peeled off! After the tour we made our way to Rotorua where it constantly smells like eggs. That night we went to the Mitai Village where we got to have a traditional Maori hangi (dinner), cultural performance and a guided bush walk. I couldn't stop laughing during the performance because of the crazy eyes and tongues.

Saturday, April 26th
The day started off with a guided visit to Te Puia which is an area filled with geothermal vents and even the famous Pohutu Geyser. There were also TONS of chinese toursits. Our guide told me that when the geyser goes off they call the pathway "the Chinese highway" because they run in a mob towards the geyser. A lot of people in our group took photos of the Chinese people taking photos and it became quite the source of entertainment. We even posed in pictures like them! When we we saw the hot mud baths and Kiwi exhibit they would shove their way to the front like nobody's business. We also got to see the wood carving and weaving which was really interesting because it was a school for Maori descent. Then we were off to the Agrodome Sheep Show where we got to see 19 breeds of sheep! I didn't even know there were that many and I didn't know sheep could be trained. At one point during the show, three dogs were running along the backs of the sheep. By the end of the show the sheep were all asleep too! We got to see a sheep get sheered (the most bizarre and uncomfortable looking thing I've seen). Volunteers got to hand milk a cow and only children were allowed to feed baby lambs. Our supervisor, Jay, advised me to jump up to volunteer for the sheep because they normally only take little kids. Needless to say, I got right up there, got picked (even after the presenter told me kids only) and got to stand on stage with them. When we were handed our bottle of milk the presenter told us it was a race to finish the milk. I pretended to drink it but the little kids all started to drink it. The little boy next to me had milk all down his shirt and the saddest face. I asked him if he liked it and he said "no, it was gross and warm". Then the little babies came out and there were three goats and one lamb. I got to feed the lamb! After lunch and watching a lot of the boys in our group was to catch sheep in an empty field, we were off to zorbing. For those of you don't know what zorbing is, you're trapped inside a giant plastic ball that rolls down a hill. Our group did liquid-zorbing so we ended up getting soaking wet. I went with Hannah and Taylor in our zorb and we laughed and hamster rolled the entire way down the hill. We changed our clothes and headed to Rainbow Springs where we got to see a bunch of Rainbow, Brook and Brown trout. We even got to see the famous New Zealand silver fern. We got to see endangered birds such as the Kiwi and got to see the center where the kiwi conservation was. After learning about the eggs and incubating process we had time to play on the playground and ride on the log flume. That night  after dinner we went to the Polynesian Spa to swim in the mineral pools. There were about six pools, all different temperatures and each one served a purpose such as skin, muscles, relaxation etc.

Sunday, April 27th
On our last day of mid-semester break and the trip, we rode on the Skyline Gondola to the top of Mount Ngongotaha where we got to see an amazing panoramic view of Rotorua. We rode on the luge down the mountain which was so fun and fast and took a ski lift back up to the top of the mountain to have lunch. After having lunch with an amazing view it was time for us to head on back to Auckland.