Rotovegas

So a couple of weekends ago now I had the chance to travel about three hours south of Auckland to Rotorua. It get's its nickname of Rotovegas from all of the expensive tourist attractions that are available here. I'll admit to taking part in one of these: Zorbing. The experience is as strange as the name, and Ihad way too low of expectations going in. Somehow the act of rolling down a huge grassy hill while being thrown around inside a gigantic plastic ball with water inside ended up being a good time.



This is what happens at the end of Zorbing, I like to call if the birthing process, slightly awkward but easily the most comedic part of the whole thing. While in Rotorua I was also able to experience a hangi, which is a traditional Maori meal where they cook our food in the ground, as well as show us their village and perform dances for us. We also drove and hiked out to a free thermal creek one night, which was scary but more than worth it. And we visited a thermal reserve called "Hell's Gates", which was sweet because I've never been around any thermal activity before, let alone an abundance of it in one place. There were also some cool mountain lakes and forests right around the city, as well as some good small town live music at night that rounded out the weekend well.