February: Travel Notes
|
February: Travel Notes
|
|
|
ROTORUA TRIP REPORT: Rotorua is a major tourist spot, an hour and a bit from Hamilton. It is known for its "Polynesian Spa" of hot pools. The whole town smells like sulphur. I didn't get into the museum (it was $10 and my companion had already seen it) and I passed on the spa due to time restrictions (although others did it for about $20 and loved it) but I did keep pretty busy. Zorbing, while a bit expensive, was worth it. The buried village was a bit disappointing though, and there is no need at all to go to Hell's Gate: there are tons of places to see geothermal stuff for free without paying for this kind of dull and gloomy 'park.' WAITOMO CAVES TRIP REPORT: This is another heavily commercialized area known for its caving stuff. A lot of it is costly, but there is really no way to do this stuff without paying for a guided trip. Shop around: the packages vary and some are definitely a better value than others (we learned after the fact of one that offers abseiling down a waterfall in addition to the blackwater rafting we did, but for the same price). The one we did had been billed as ‘black water rafting’ i.e. floating along in inner tubes, but the inner tube parts were quite short and we had to hike through steep rock and little passageways to get there. We were underground for about 3 hours and worked quite hard. I had a great time, but have no great inclination to go back for more. I am glad I did not spend more money on one of the 7-hour trips! The place we went to provided wetsuits and boots and such, but you'll want to take socks (preferably ones you don't mind throwing away after) and hand lotion. We stopped in Otorohanga on the way home and had some really good burgers at this little diner. |
