Day 16 - Rotorua to Tongariro (Wed, Mar 7)

Woke up at about 8:30 this morning, JQ a little after.  For breakfast, I just grabbed a bite to eat out of our food stash.  I like staying in places with fridges & microwaves.  Makes life cheaper and easier.

At about 9:30 in the morning (an hour after we got up), JQ looked out the window and said, "wow, we're the last people here - everyone else has left."  That's because we are lazy lardbutts, I explained.  In my road trips with Stephen, we would definitely be on the road (or already in some national park) by 9:30 a.m.

Today, we check out of our hotel at 9:52 a.m.  There are multiple minutes to spare (eight of them, in fact)!  This is an accomplishment.  If the hotel staff is irked by our last-minute departure, we win them over by cooing and fussing over their dog, a fluffy little German Spitz.  I'll bet that dog gets hot in this climate with all that hair.  🐶


We have scarcely pulled out of the parking lot and JQ wants us to find a grocery store, because her delicate digestive system can only tolerate certain foods grown at certain humidities on certain rare slopes in the Himalayas.  I opine that the whole of New Zealand may not have food that is special enough for her to tolerate.  But she wants to look anyway.

We go to the local Countdown (which seems to be the dominant grocery chain in these here parts), with an assigned timeframe of about 10 minutes to pick up essentials.  Why?  Because we don't want to spend all day dilly-dallying in mundane tasks like grocery (and when I say “we”, I mean “I”)

After collecting our groceries, we head for Skyline Rotorua, but accidentally overshoot our target and end up at the Zorb field.  What is that?  Ohhh, it looks like you climb into a giant transparent golf ball, and then roll yourself down a hill.  This looks tempting... and/or terrifying.  But no, not today.  Maybe tomorrow, I'll want to play some giant golf.  Until tomorrow, I'll just keep moving on. 😉

Backtracking, we park at Skyline Rotorua, our intended destination.  After buying the tickets, we jump on a cable car that takes us up Mt Ngongotaha.  Oh, and did I mention it is gray and cloudy today?  The top of the hill is shrouded in mist, which makes it look much higher than it is.  Of course, I don't actually know how high it is, so take that assessment with a grain of salt.

Either the rain is keeping people away, or it is off-season here in New Zealand.  Despite our late start, there was no line up for the cable cars - in fact, there was no one guarding the cable cars at all, we really did just bounce aboard and have a cable car to ourselves.

There are goats grazing on the hill below, munching on the grass.  JQ and I both shake our heads at the craziness of the mountain bike trails that are leading down the side of the mountain.  Not just the zigzagging trails, but also ridiculous dips and hills, and then wooden high jumps that would probably send you and your bike into orbit.  (Going into orbit is not the problem; it's always the landings that are killer.)  We don't see anyone riding the trails, although we do see a few people taking their bikes up in other cable cars.

At the top, it is even more misty and foggy, and we hop out to an empty bay (and really, now that I'm writing this, it sounds like the start to a horror movie.  Two people wander into a misty, abandoned theme park, where all the rides are mysteriously running, even though there's no one there!!!  What could go wrong?).

But, when we head inside the visitor center, there are actual living human beings, so I guess this is not a horror movie after all.  I've always thought my life had more of a sitcom vibe anyway.  I rent us a locker to stash our backpacks and cameras.  While there, JQ spies the Volcanic Hills Wine Tasting center.  "Is it too early to start drinking?" she asks the clerk.  Apparently it is.  Come back at 11 (ya wino!).

Since JQ hasn't had a chance to start drinking yet, this is the perfect time to go driving.  Why did the tourists go up the mountain?  Well, yes, to see what they could see - and then to ride halfway back down again on a luge track.

As this is New Zealand, and not Switzerland or Canada, this luge track is paved and snow-free, and you ride down on little ground-skimming carts.  Because we are from Saskatchewan, and therefore inherently afraid of hills, JQ and I decide to take the "Scenic Route", which is for weenies.  The "Intermediate Route" is for people who are up for a bit of a challenge,and the "Advanced Route" is closed today, but I wouldn't take it anyway because I like my skin best when it's attached to my body, and not when it's been scraped off in a terrible go-cart accident - and yes, I'm sure those happen all the time (plus, I'm a weenie).

Grabbing some helmets for our gigantic craniums, we get in line.  It's cloudy and cool with a tiny bit of drizzling rain.  By the time we get to our carts, it is raining somewhat harder.  Oh well, a little rain never killed anyone.  Off we go, downhill!  Whee!  JQ takes the lead.  I attempt to overtake her, but then a little kid pulls alongside his dad, and I can't in good conscience run him off the road.  I have to brake, wait for him to move, and by that time JQ is way ahead.  I never quit catch up, so she wins the weenie race.  Yay!  JQ is Weenie #1 - the Golden Weenie - and I have to settle for the silver.  In a stunning display of poor sportsmanship, I refuse to shake her hand at the non-existent medal ceremony.

Since we have now driven a little ways down to the middle of the mountain, we have to hop onto a chair lift to take us back up.  JQ, being of the delicate sunflower variety, is shivering and freezing in the rain.  On the way back up the mountainside, I hear little sheep bleating "waa waa waa!", and then I look over and realize it's just my travelling companion.

JQ claims to be freezing to death beneath this unremitting drizzle.  (No, I actually don't know how she survives back home in the winter.)  She buys herself a tourist t-shirt, and changes into it, because she is dying of the cold and needs some warm clothes.  Then, she decides to complete the cure by drinking herself into oblivion.  Into the Volcanic Hills Wine Tasting Center she goes (probably hoping there is a warm volcano at its core).

By the way, I'm fine.  No need for new dry clothing.  😉  I wander off to take some pictures and explore.

Luge Tracks

Jelly Potter

There is a Jelly Belly museum, where you can (a) buy Jelly Bellies, and (b) see that they have created Jelly Belly artworks of Van Gogh's "Starry Night", da Vinci's "Mona Lisa", and JK Rowling's "Harry Potter" (made of 14,726 beans). Some people might say it's not real art, but I say they're just jelly.  😄

Drinking alone.  Sad!

I wander into the Volcanic Hills Wine Tasting center, where JQ is regaling the bartender with all the tales of woe from her life, and strangely, all of them seem to start with "Catherine, Catherine, Catherine."  Huh.  That's weird.

Anyway, once she's finished drowning her sorrows in liquor (no, she hasn't drowned me - that attempt on my life will come later in this trip), we hop back on the cable cars and head back down to the parking lot.  Now that we are off the mountain, the rain has stopped and the clouds are clearing.  So typical.

Then JQ and I head across the street to have more adventures.  So many adventures!  So adventurous!  It is hard to explain.  I will just show you the pictures.

I go on a balloon ride!	JQ swims with the dolphins!
Oops! I destroy art.	Oops!  JQ is training for a marathon.
Under the sea, under the sea	Card Shark
I play for the All Blacks! Also, my head is disproportionately small. 😮	JQ is a crunchy, wholesome breakfast.
JQ finally found a baby she likes.	This won't end well.
JQ reveals she IS part koala!	Rotorua is full of geysers. Don't get too close!

Okay, that's enough pictures for now.  I'm sure you've already figured it out, but we visited the 3D Trick Art Gallery.  We laughed like idiots when posing for the pictures.  So much fun!

After that, we stopped for lunch, and tried to visit a geyser park, but the rain clouds billowed in again, and it was too rainy for a walk.  Oh well!

As much as we wish we could stay in Rotorua for another day, we have reservations at the Park Ruapehu in Tongariro National Park, which is 185 km away, so it's time to hit the road.

And by the way, when you hear 185 km, you think, "that's under 2 hours."  Theoretically, that is correct.  However, New Zealand's roads are really winding.  They are like the weaving, waving ribbons of an Olympic gymnast, and it takes a bit longer than the way we drive on the prairies (which is just setting the car on cruise control and pointing it in the right direction).

Nevertheless, we feel like we are really getting the hang of the roundabouts now, and we are learning where the windshield wipers are, and where the signal is.  So there's some progress!  (Nic's fervent prayers must be working.)

We check in at the Park Hotel Ruapehu, and after all of these spacious motels, we find we are now in a quite narrow, compact room. It does have two floors, though. On the main floor is a couch, two twin beds, a small fridge, and a tiny narrow washroom with a shower (I don't think New Zealand has bathtubs).  There is an upstairs loft with a double bed.

Once upon a time, there was a girl
who lived in a cupboard under the stairs.

 JQ chooses the twin bed under the stairs, and I take the upstairs room with a view.  Tonight, the view outside my window is of clouds moving in.

The hotel has a metal roof, and the rain is rattling away on it.  JQ fires up the electric heater.  It is a good night to be indoors!

Let's hope it clears tomorrow.