Zorbs, Lions, and Waterfalls- oh my!

Our second, and last, day in Rotorua we spent driving around trying to do as many things as possible. The first was for Greg and Olivia to go zorbing. Rotorua is actually where it was invented. Haven't heard of it? Zorb is a giant, clear plastic ball, that you crawl inside of, and are either strapped in or they pour water inside so you slide all over the place on a little floaty seat. Then they push you down a hill.

Needless to say, we were excited. We did the water version so we are wearing bathing suits. Just fyi, in case you were concerned Olivia was just wandering around with pants. That crazy girl!

Olivia went first. They had three courses you could choose: straight down the hill, a longer flatter hill, or an extra curvy, winding way down the hill. We both chose the latter- maximum bounce-age!

Olivia coming in a for a landing. The water makes it a smooth ride and you slip and slide all over the zorb. It's a ton of fun.

After finishing her run, Olivia is birthed out of her zorb.

Now you may have heard about zorbing because it made international headlines when two men in Russia died while zorbing. Well, what happened was that Russia doesn't really have safety guidelines and their zorbing track was literally right next to a cliff. It bounced wrong, and that was that. The first thing we did was check for any nearby cliffs. Check. Nothing but fields full of sheep. Greg managed to get back on his feet towards the end of his zorb run. He's awesome.

On our way out, we saw this sign for the Agrodome a "world famous" sheep show. Tempting, but after much deliberation, we decided to pass.

The North Island apparently decided awhile back that the best way to promote road safety was to make highway signs with funny little owls. Here's one of them. Cute!

As we were driving we saw this sign for a "discount" on gas. Ha! That's $2.28 a liter, almost 75 cents more than in Canberra. You can keep your discount Rotorua.

Now this takes a little explanation. We were about to leave for Taupo when we saw a sign for a local wildlife park that featured a petting zoo with lion cubs. Laurel and Olivia freaked out and we detoured there immediately. The rule is that you can pet lion cubs until they are one year old, and then it becomes too dangerous and they move the cubs to the adult enclosure and replace them with new baby cubs. These were 50 weeks, 1 week away from the move to adult lion world. Upon entering we asked if it was all right to bring Immy over. The attendant said, "Yes, no problem they're quite docile." Forgetting Kiwi and Australian easy going natures we accepted this at face value. That was a mistake.

Immediately, after the below picture was taken, the lion looked back, locked eyes on Immy, stood up and took a big swipe at the cage towards our direction. Fortunately Greg had already back pedaled halfway across the petting zoo. The attendant seeing this said, "Oh yeah, his natural instincts are kicking in. Now that he's noticed your baby you should probably stay away. Maybe take her over to the other lion who hasn't smelled her yet." Um, no. Greg and Immy immediately left the lion cub area while Olivia and Laurel stuck around for a few more pictures. Parenting fail.

So there you go Immy, that's the story of how we almost fed you to a lion when you were four months old. Sorry about that.

Laurel and the lion take a moment to size each other up.

Yeah, that spot feels pretty good ladies. Scratch right there. Thanks, I'm going to drift off to sleep now, with a happy lion smile.

We figured after petting the lions we might as well check out the rest of the park. Olivia stopped for a quick nap in this animal bed in a cottage.

This is a kea. The world's only alpine parrot. They are incredibly smart, and everyone we met told them that the worst thing you can do is to offer food to one. This isn't because they get dependent on you, it's because if they are fed they don't have to expend all their energy on hunting. Instead, they have free time and can use it to get into trouble. They are incredibly mischievous birds, and like to make off with unguarded objects- sunnies, shoes, passports. They've even been known to pry off the rubber bits on cars. Very destructive birds.

Olivia feeding a deer. He was in the middle of molting his antlers, so he had these raggedy, withered things hanging off his head. Not cute deer.

The wildlife park is built around a river and a trout breeding area. The fish are free to leave anytime, but a lot stick around because it's their home anyway. Imogen getting a front row seat for some underwater viewing.

Imogen loved the wallabies, she thought they were just the funniest things ever. We had never heard her laugh like that. It was super adorable.

When it was Olivia's turn to feed the wallabies they were all full and hopped away. The duck stayed though. Poor Olivia.

A separate part of the zoo holds the adult lions. The male had found a nice cave to catch a nap in.

 

After departing the wildlife park we drove to Taupo making a brief stop to check out Huka Falls for some photo opportunities.

The drop isn't exceptionally high, but the squeeze between the rocks is pretty tight, forcing the water to move at a very high velocity. It was spectacular in a completely different way than other waterfalls.

The next day was going to be a big one. Olivia and Greg were setting off on their all day hike through Tongariro Crossing, the home of Mount Doom. Stay tuned.

Waimangu Volcanic Valley

Our next day was a pretty big one, and one of our favorite excursions of the whole trip. Rotorua lies in the middle of the north island, just off of Lake Rotorua. It sits on top of a pretty active sulfur deposit, which makes for amazing hot springs and landscapes but has the unfortunate side effect of making the whole area smell like rotting eggs. You get used to it after awhile, not as big of a deal as it sounds. To really get an idea of the amazingness we drove just outside of town to Waimangu Volcanic Valley, and went on a two hour hike. Check out this steaming lake!

Our drive there was really interesting as well. Fascinating landscapes. Thick forests of evergreen trees changed abruptly to dry, grassy hills and then again to lush rainforests. The grassy hills had a stepped look to them in that they reminded us of thin cake tiers stacked all the way up.

Olivia was pretty stoked to start the hike, and she got some flexing and stretching in with a tiki carving. Let's do this!

Our Volcanic Valley trip started with a 2 hour hike down through the valley. The Volcanic Valley was incredible! There were geysers everywhere, boiling hot springs with steam that rose up through the rocks, vibrant sapphire rivers and waterfalls, and stunning rock formations all along our hike through the rainforest. The next few pictures all speak for themselves.

We got super lucky here. This is Emerald Lake, which is seperated from the rest of the valley. We had to take a small side hike up some stairs to see this. Apparently, the chemical balance of the water is really delicate, and because of all the thermal activity, it's only ever bright emerald likes this a couple months out of the year, and it's not consistant at all. Most people just see a dull lake instead of this incredible spot of color.

Wai is Maori for water, and mangu is Maori for black, so the literal name for this area is Black Water. Even though this next photo looks photoshopped, the landscape actually was this vivid. Spectacular!

Upon arrival, we asked if the hike was fine to bring a stroller on. The lady at the front desk said, "Yeah no problem, there is just one section with a couple of stairs." Oh, New Zealand. Couple of stairs means about three flights of stairs down. Fortunately, there were three of us to carry the thing down it.

Immy woke up right around then, so we took her out to check everything out. Until 1886, Rotorua was famed for the Pink and White Terraces, which were advertised as the "Eighth Wonder of the World." Unfortunately, they were completely destroyed by the eruption of Mount Tarawera, which also created the whole Waimangu Valley. The eruption was so strong that ash was seen as far south as Christchurch, and in Auckland, people thought the noise and the flashes in the sky was an attack by Russian Warships.

Immy going for a ride with Aunt Olivia. Being all adorable, as always.

Here's the swampy portion of the lake, which we passed during our hike. It was another interesting contrast to the geysers and vibrant landscapes from earlier.

Next we took a 40 minute boat tour of the lake, and finally a 15 minute bus ride back to the Visitor’s Centre. The boat tour took us on the lake that was formed by the eruption of Mount Tarawera in 1886. We couldn't get a decent picture of it, but it's a mountain with a giant hole in the side of it. That explosion must have been enormous. I mean, obviously it was, since it destroyed pretty much everything in the area, but it's still impressive 130 years later. We would highly recommend this hike to anyone travelling around this area.

Immy was super pumped. Plus she's super cute in her Valentine's Day pants!

That afternoon, we checked out the Rotorua Museum, which tells the history of the city. This is not one of their selling points, but they may also have the world's largest elevator. 

Seriously, you can get lost in there. That's Laurel's baby yoga pose, invented in the moment.

While at the museum we learned that Rotorua sits inside an active volcano. Yes, inside. That seems not safe. Our enthuiasm for Rotorua waned a littled bit, and we were kind of glad that we were leaving the next day.

We took advantage of our live-in nanny, Olivia, and went out for a much needed Valentine’s Day date night. (Yes, we are insanely behind on posting updates.)

Grilled venison and wine! Cheers to another great year together!

On the walk back to our car we passed this dog sitting inside of a car. Pretty sure he stared into our souls. Whatever you are doing, car dog does not approve.

Waitomo

After years of talking about it, and a couple months of planning, the time had finally come for a family vacation to New Zealand. Originally, we had planned on taking separate trips to the North and South Islands, but the more we planned and took into account how much time we had left in the Southern Hemisphere it started making more and more sense to do one giant trip and do the whole country. 16 days, 8 cities, 2 islands. Let's do this.

Trip started off well. On short flights (such as Canberra to Melbourne) Qantas now provides everyone with iPads for their personal entertainment. Greg registers his astonishment. US based airlines would never do this.

After changing planes in Melbourne we landed in Auckland and had out first photo opportunity- the entrance was decorated with Maori carvings. Right after this, pretty much every inch of available space was covered with advertisements for "Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit." Come on guys, it's just a movie, get over it.

We only stayed the night in Auckland to recharge out batteries after a day of flying (and cleaning up Immy's near constant vomit sprays). The next morning it was south to Waitomo, the home of world famous glowworm caves. Our Waitomo walking tour guide’s Great-Great-grandfather was one of the first explorers to discover the caves. Her parents were married in the caves. She was clearly born to be a tour guide at the Waitomo Caves. The main open area within the caves is called the cathedral. It’s frequently used for concerts, ceremonies, and other local events.

Glowworms look like tiny, blue Christmas lights. They group together in large clusters throughout the cave ceilings and walls. In total darkness, they are beautiful and a bit mysterious. There is no breeding season, which means the amazing glowworm experience can be had all year round. The total darkness means it's pretty much impossible to take a picture, so as a substitute here's a picture of the four of us in the cave. Pretend you can see glowworms behind us, becuase they totally were.

Now it’s time for some super fun glowworm facts! Enjoy while checking out these sweet pictures of the caves. Spoiler alert- glowworms are not actually worms. They are in fact flies, which means their larvae, aka the glowworm, are maggots. Gross. The glow is actually a chemical reaction caused during digestion that makes their not yet excreted poop glow. Interesting, but I think we preferred the mystery. As our Ruakuri tour guide pointed out, no one would come if they said, “Come see our glowing maggot poop!” Glowworms lay between 120-250 eggs divided up in small clusters throughout the caves. This is necessary because when the eggs begin to hatch about 20 days later, the first larva to hatch eats his surrounding unhatched siblings. Only 5% of the eggs laid will reach adulthood.

After surviving being eaten by his siblings, the larva finds a nice spot on the cave to make his home. He then makes a single, long web strand that hangs down about 4 inches or so. The web is similar to a spider’s web. Insects are attracted to the larva’s glow, become entangled in the web, and are eaten. After about 90 days of happily glowing and eating, the glowworm makes a cocoon and 2 weeks later emerges as an adult. Life as an adult glowworm is much less enjoyable. They have no mouth or stomach, and all will die of starvation within 3-6 days of emerging from their cocoons. Their only purpose as adults is to breed as much as possible. The really unlucky ones become entangled in the webs of the surrounding larvae and are eaten. It’s a rough life.

Waitomo is a Maori word that means water (wai) hole (tomo). Water was clearly very important to the Maori tribes, because heaps of town names start with wai. We took a boat tour on the river that runs through Waitomo Caves to check out the glowworms. Our boat guide told us the first explorers were not too eager to go trekking through the water since large eels used to live in it. Not as many eels live in the water today about which he seemed disappointed.

Imogen slept through most of it (caves are nice and dark, ideal for sleeping), but thought it was pretty cool, nonetheless.

The second cave we went to was called Ruakuri Cave, which is privately owned. Maori law dictates that when you own the land, you own everything from the core of the earth to the heavens above. As a result, most people in this area own caves. Ruakuri is also a Maori word, which means two (rua) dogs (kuri). It was named after two dogs that used to live in this area. A Maori tribe also lived around these caves. One day the dogs ate the chief’s food. Food was scarce at that time, so the chiefs were very angry. As a result, they ate the dogs. Seriously, that’s the story.

The main selling point for this cave, judging by the brochures, is the man-made spiral ramp that takes you down to the cave entrance. This picture really doesn't do it justice, but it was pretty epic.

Our guide was particularly good on the Ruakuri tour. However, she was very strict about the rules. Touching the cave walls or taking photos in the portions marked as off-limits would result in an automatic $10,000 fine for the offender and end of the tour for the entire group. No second chances. We were all very careful to follow the rules. The only rock we were allowed to touch was at the bottom of the ramp. So we did.

Fossilized shell! Which is especially nuts since we were in a cave underground, a solid hour drive from the nearest beach.

We drove to Rotorua after our cave tours, and spent the rest of the evening relaxing in our private hot tub. It was a great end to the day.

Multicultural Festival

For the second year in a row, we hit up Canberra's Multicultural Festival. It totally snuck up on us this year. A couple days before it started, Greg was on the bus home from work and was like, hey, why are they blocking off streets and setting up booths? Oh, sweet! Food from all over the world. Say no more, we are there.

It was a big day for Immy, too. For the first time she got to face front in the bjorn. It's a big world out there, and Immy wants to look at all of it. We got probably seven feet into the festival before stopping at our first food booth. A Bhutanese dumpling place. This dish, specifically the hot relish they put on top of the dumplings, may have been the best thing we ate all day. Immy was also interested and immediately stuck her hand into the relish. Fortunately, we got her cleaned off before her fingers found their way into her mouth, which would have made for a very unhappy baby!

The place was a bit of a madhouse, but we found a little bit of shade to stand in while we dug into our next course, a collection of Spanish tapas- marinated spiced mushrooms, potatos, and sausages in rice. Laurel in her future job as a plate model.

We've found a new thing Immy loves- pan flute music! She was just transfixed by these guys . . . until the music got too loud and she started to cry. But before that, it was amazing. We also thanked them for keeping us safe from a Guinea-saurus Rex attack.

It didn't take long for Immy to recover. We got some more dumpling treats, Nepalese, this time, and Immy was eyeing up both our plates to see what we had. She's starting to get interested in food- solids here we come.

Street performers doing some folk dancing. Not positive, but I want to say Turkish?

Immy was getting tired so we were starting to think about leaving. Laurel wanted a sweet treat for the road though, and we turned the corner and her prayers were answered- the Belgian pancake stand! After much consideration, Laurel opted for the chocolate sauce and ice cream on the side. Good job, Multicultural Festival, good job.