For the next day of Orientation we travelled about three hours south to Rotorua. It is known for its geothermal landscape and really rich Maori culture. As a whole Rotorua is established in the middle of a caldera, or a collapsed volcano. Everyone there compares it to Yellowstone. Everything here is gorgeous, but it smells so strongly of sulfur that it is hard to enjoy.
Our first stop was to a farm show. This was one of my favorite parts of orientation. Since sheep are so popular here (there are more sheep than people throughout all of New Zealand) we learned all about the different kinds and what they are used for. We watched a Kiwi (New Zealand native) shear a sheep, and I got to bottle feed a baby lamb!
This picture looks fake, but all of these sheep are real! They walked them up one by one and we learned all about each one. The one all the way at the top is the Merino and that is where all of our wool comes from.
This little guy was so friendly and hungry!
After the farm show we went to Rainbow Springs. This is a touristy sanctuary for birds and trout. Its named after the thousands of Rainbow Trout that live in the natural springs.
Although they look small in the picture they were actually HUGE... The woman said they were about 18-24inches long.
We ended the day by heading to a mineral spa... however, it still smelled like rotten eggs. This "spa" was right next to our hotel for the night. They built pools around natural hot mineral springs. This turned out to be a great bonding experience for our group. Having done it though, I can't say that the smell was really worth it.
On the third day of Orientation we got up early to check some more geothermal parks. We stopped on the way to check out bubbling mud. The mud itself isn't actually hot. It begins to bubble an gurgle as the gasses are escaping through the ground... Again it still smelled terrible.
We drove a little bit further to see the Lady Knox Geyser. We were luck enough to see it erupt. The eruption itself was neat. The Geyser would erupt naturally every 24-72 hours. However they have found that if they add soap to the top of the geyser that it will erupt on Que. So within minutes water was shooting up almost 60 feet in the air!
After touring around another park for about 2 hours and inhaling all the sulfur that we could stand to smell we hopped back on the bus and went ZORBING! It was about 40 degrees out, but we all suited up and climbed inside the ball in groups of two or three. They fill it with a little bit of warm water and then roll you down a huge hill. It sounds silly, but it was a blast. I do not think I have ever laughed so hard. Here are a few pics:
We ended the night by going to a Maori Cultural show. We watched them perform and we learned all about their culture. Then they prepared a meal for us in their traditional way. They cook everything underground in a fire pit, almost like a barbecue. It was surprisingly good!
If you have the chance youtube Maori Haka... It is pretty neat!
The next morning we drove back to Auckland and moved into our new places. There is plenty more to come!
