Sky swings, luging, and peacocks...

The blog has been somewhat quiet due to much rain, most of our time spent working or trying to make our house warm :) We did take a trip to Wellington and started to explore the Te Papa National Museum, which is a really interesting and well done museum in downtown, detailing the natural and human history of New Zealand. We hiked a bit up the Kapiti Coast, literally against a wall of wind. But it was beautiful. We've learned how to make our own enchilada sauce, since they don't sell any in stores, and mexican food is really hard to come by. I have to say, it turned out really tasty (thanks to the sauce man in the family).

Last weekend we took a trip to Rotorua. Land of the hot thermals and Maori culture. It was a bit of a shock driving into the town- lots of traffic and tourism, both of which Wangnaui has little of. It was kind of a long drive for a Friday evening, we didn't get to our "Bach" (this is short for Bachelor pad...essentially a vacation cottage rented out) until after dark, making it hard to find among the winding roads. Luckily we brought supplies for homemade pizza, and cooked it up in our little rental house that night.

The next morning we went for a hike in the Whakarewarera Forest where they have transplanted some California Redwoods (not nearly as impressive as the real thing), and of course the native New Zealand silver ferns are ever present and beautiful. There was also a "UFO simulator", which based on the description seemed like it was a bunch of panoramic New Zealand pictures/video, which were shown while the contraption moved around...I'm not sure why they decided to claim it was a UFO simulator...we didn't go on it, so who knows.

We met some friends for lunch at the Fat Dog, who had yummy and unique paninis, then headed to the "Sky Gondola". We took the gondala up a big hill overlooking Lake Rotorua, and at the top awaited our first extreme adventure called the Sky Swing. This was a thrill seeking device that we sat in, were fully buckled and strapped in, but there was no cage or anything holding us in. We were then lifted by a wire, up about 50 meters, which was terrifying, because the farther we went up, the more perpendicular we became to the ground. Mostly I just stared at the trees in front of me and tried to focus on not hyperventilating. Sachin just kept saying "oh my god...oh my god". Not comforting. When we got to the top, we had to pull a cord and came down in a free fall, then swung back and forth for awhile. Wooh. We were fully pumped for the next adventure.

Which brings me to the luge. This was a plastic sled with wheels and a handle, which we sat in and cruised down a concrete curving course (some of us faster than others). As we got close to the end, the rain started coming down. But we had purchased 2 luge rides, so we were going to get our money's worth, rain or shine. We rode up an uncovered chair lift which was probably the slowest chair lift in history, and when it dropped us off at the top, we decided to take the advanced course this time. This was crazy. It was now pouring rain, the advanced course was up and down, sharp curves, we could have easily flown off the side of the course. We were wearing helmets but still. Sachin seemed to have trouble with his breaks and he almost crashed into me...I also had 8 year old boys passing me and racing like they were in bumper cars. Hmmm. Didn't seem all that safe, but it was fun.

At this point we were freezing cold. We went back to our bach and started a roaring fire while we tried to dry off our clothes. Headed out for a good Thai meal at Wild Rice Thai, then went to the Polynesian Spa. This is a spa built around the natural hot mineral springs which are abundant in the area. They range from 37 degrees Celcius (about body temp) to 42 degrees (about 107.5 degrees F). You pay $20 to get in and can soak for as long as you want...It overlooks Lake Rotorua. It was nice to go at night because it was a little cool outside, otherwise I think it would be easy to overheat. We were both skeptical of its healing powers (so they say), but the next morning we both woke up with really soft skin...

The next day we did some souvenir shopping (carved Jade is a specialty here) and then drove back through the mountains and green hills. We happened to see 8 peacocks on the way!! There must be a peacock farm...We scared the sheep as we stopped the car suddenly and ran out to try to capture the peacocks on film.

It was a good weekend, and lucky us, next weekend is a 3 day one! Happy New Zealand labor day to us. We will be heading to Hawke's bay to sample the wine and food...yum.