New Zealand - Rotorua

Day 18 - Thursday, February 9

The bus left Waitomo at 845 to head to Rotorua. By checking in last in Waitomo, I lucked out - they ran out of space in the dorms, and so they started putting people in rooms with two twin beds, but since we had an odd number I ended up with a room to myself, which after sharing dorm rooms with between 3 and 11 other people for the last two weeks, was a nice luxury. I hadn't been sleeping that poorly in the dorms, but having my room definitely made for some better sleep.

We stopped in the morning to do a short little hike/walk through some of the exterior portions of the caves and some waterfalls and such.  Nothing that seemed particularly photo worthy after all the cool stuff we saw the day before. But, in case you were curious and didn't check out the KEX website, here's one of the bus I'll be spending much of my life on over the next 3 weeks:

From New Zealand - Rotorua & Taupo

Rotorua is a larger city on a lake that provides many options for those seeking to do extreme-sport-type activities. Elsewhere in NZ are better for bungy and skydiving, but Rotorua provides a luging track that's supposed to be one of the best and offers an opportunity to go zorbing. Luging involves driving a tiny little cart on a downhill track at high speeds, not too dissimilar from the olympic sport with which it shares a name. Zorbing involves one or more people getting inside a huge rubber ball / balloon and rolling down a hill.  The bus driver said he definitely preferred luging and that it provided more hours of entertainment for your dollar, so I went with that. A few photos:

From New Zealand - Rotorua & Taupo

From New Zealand - Rotorua & Taupo

It might not look very dangerous, but a fellow bus passenger wiped out going pretty fast and took most of the skin off his shin.

That evening we went to a traditional Mauri (original native New Zealanders) village and ate a traditional Mauri feast. The experience felt a little touristy, but it was still pretty neat and the food, which was cooked in an underground pit, was good. If you're curious, there are a few pics in the picasa album.