Katikati to Rotorua

 Dear all

Today we headed on a long trip to Rotorua. It shouldn't have been a long trip but I wanted to check out the Hobbiton site at Matamata, but when we arrived I found that we would have had to spend the rest of the day there just for a two hour tour. So pressing on after our fruitless detour we pressed onto Rotorua.

Our first stop was at Zorb Rotorua just before the town in an area rich in adventure sports. In case you have no idea what I am talking about zorbing is basically sliding into a plastic sphere and being rolled down hill for about 200m all for the princely sum of $50. Most people were going the extreme route instead of being strapped inside climbed in with some friends , throw in some icy cold water and then slip, slide and tangle yourself up as you go down hill. We watched with amusement for a while & then moved across the road to Agrodome. This has to go down as one of the most bizarre tourist attractions I have ever been to - Agrodome.

The whole place is dedicated to the largest animal population of the country .......... sheep. They have sheep auctions, shearing, sheepdog displays & educational shows. If that's not enough they do tractor rides around the grounds and you can see around 20 different breeds of sheep and meet Titan the Giant Sheep. There were hundreds of people there on coaches no doubt paying huge sums to go and see all this stuff. We just had a quick walk around and escaped behind to the Agrodome adventures section where they had every possible extreme activity you can think of bungy jumps and swings, jet boats simulated skydiving and other fun stuff. Again we just watched the terrified looks of the mugs who had parted with about $80 for a minute of sheer adrenalin!

As we approached the town we detoured to the Skyline Skyrides  and took the Gondola up to the top of Mt Ngongotaha for a truly beautiful view over the lake. We then flew down the mountain on a luge (a sort of toboggan on wheels) which was great fun and you go back up on a special chairlift that takes your luge with you. By the third & final time I even managed to stay ahead of  Dean - despite a huge head start and nearly smashing him off the track ........ ha!

We finally reached the town and true to what everyone said the whole place had a underlying stench of sulphur from the thermal activity. We took refuge on the other side of the lake which was supposed have less of a pong and I'm really looking forward to exploring the area tomorrow.

Nite all

Hugs

Sara