So I’m now officially 21- the celebration in Auckland was a little different than I expected, but the decorated door, dinner, and piñata let me enjoy the birthday like I hoped- like a little kid!
We ended up vetoing the Kayak trip due to freezing temperature and the predicted storm. Instead, Vanessa, Kaitlyn and I jumped on a bus to Rotorua- the “Vegas” of the North Island. We got to the city around lunch and went to the Mad Dog Café- which has more character than any café I’ve ever seen before... and totally reminded my of Blue II!! After dropping off our stuff at Blarney’s Rock… our hostel… we hit up the luge. I’m convinced it is my true calling. Not only did I scream like I was 6, I giggled the entire way down the mountain. The luge is basically a grown-up scooter with enough leg room for an 8 year-old. The first time down the mountain I used the break almost the entire way, due to the fact that I couldn’t breathe from laughing so hard. I was getting passed right and left, but the next time down, I definitely went NASCAR on Vanessa and Kaitlyn. After cutting them off a couple times, they made sure to let me know that I am never, ever allowed to drive in New Zealand. So, by the third run we all felt confident enough to go down the advanced run- which was soo much fun. What was not fun was the random hail that we got stuck in on the way up the mountain. It went from “Wow, I think its sprinkling” to “Ouch, Charlie…. That really hurts!!” haha- ok, so no Charlie but people that share my passion for Charlie the youtube video will enjoy that. No really, we were on this bad boy of a chair lift for about 7 minutes of pouring rain and hail. We finally got to the top, then hit up the café while it finished being feisty… determined to finish our last 2 runs. It did stop raining/hailing, and we got a view of the best rainbow ever! On the last run, I whipped out Indiana driving again and won : ] But, I was screaming “Too fast!! Too fast! For the majority of the time”. After drying our jeans in the bathroom dryer, we decided to hit up the Polyensian Spa. That’s right- warm spring water that smells like eggs. We opted for the “adult pools” so we could enjoy the night in peace and quiet. I can honestly say I’ve never seen prettier stars, a brighter full moon, or a prettier sight than soaking in the hot pools about 4 meters from the lake. We marinated for about 3 hours, and then had an amazing dinner at a random restaurant. After a Pack-n-Save trip consisting of candy and Sprite Zero, I was thoroughly impressed by the Olympic men speedwalking back at the Hostel. The next morning we went to Agroadventures for a little FreeFall Extreme, Swoop, and Shweeb. The FreeFall Extreme was basically a flying squirrel experience over a large fan. And no, they body suit they gave me was not long enough, so I looked like a bad version of a ghetto Huck-Fin from the 8Os. [A denim jumpsuit with yellow accents that went MC Hammer in all the wrong places]. In fact, the instructor actually said to me, is that creeping up on you? I’m not going to answer that. So, I laughed until I cried watching both Vanessa and Kaitlyn enjoy themselves and then tried to laugh during my turn, but couldn’t due to the crazy amount of wind blowing in my face.
Next up was the Schweeb- basically, bikes inside of a pill capsule thingy. It was pretty hard on the legs, and a little creepy…. But fun. I talked Kaitlyn into the swing on steroids after the Aerojet was out of commission. The staff saw the fear in our eyes, and took full advantage of creeping us out. After I made our safety person pinky swear we wouldn’t die, I found myself up in the air in a cocoon strapped to Kaitlyn. Instead of freaking out, Kaitlyn was so calm and kept on saying, “Wow, look at the view”. Before we knew it, I had to pull the cord to send us on our way. It was actually so much fun and both Kaitlyn and I could have gone a couple more times. "One more time!!" haha. We then headed back to Rotorua for lunch, walking around in the rain, got tea, and then we waited for our bus, called the Nakedbus, to get there. We slept most of the way home, and Kaitlyn was totally bummed she couldn’t see any more elephants [see below for details]. We got home pretty late, so I am currently behind in all my classes, but it was a great weekend! Watch for pictures!
Oh, and for the title… Kaitlyn definitely looked at me on the bus and said, “Hey, did you see that elephant?” “Um, No- do they have elephants in New Zealand?”
So if anyone knows the answer, please let me know! hahaha
We ended up vetoing the Kayak trip due to freezing temperature and the predicted storm. Instead, Vanessa, Kaitlyn and I jumped on a bus to Rotorua- the “Vegas” of the North Island. We got to the city around lunch and went to the Mad Dog Café- which has more character than any café I’ve ever seen before... and totally reminded my of Blue II!! After dropping off our stuff at Blarney’s Rock… our hostel… we hit up the luge. I’m convinced it is my true calling. Not only did I scream like I was 6, I giggled the entire way down the mountain. The luge is basically a grown-up scooter with enough leg room for an 8 year-old. The first time down the mountain I used the break almost the entire way, due to the fact that I couldn’t breathe from laughing so hard. I was getting passed right and left, but the next time down, I definitely went NASCAR on Vanessa and Kaitlyn. After cutting them off a couple times, they made sure to let me know that I am never, ever allowed to drive in New Zealand. So, by the third run we all felt confident enough to go down the advanced run- which was soo much fun. What was not fun was the random hail that we got stuck in on the way up the mountain. It went from “Wow, I think its sprinkling” to “Ouch, Charlie…. That really hurts!!” haha- ok, so no Charlie but people that share my passion for Charlie the youtube video will enjoy that. No really, we were on this bad boy of a chair lift for about 7 minutes of pouring rain and hail. We finally got to the top, then hit up the café while it finished being feisty… determined to finish our last 2 runs. It did stop raining/hailing, and we got a view of the best rainbow ever! On the last run, I whipped out Indiana driving again and won : ] But, I was screaming “Too fast!! Too fast! For the majority of the time”. After drying our jeans in the bathroom dryer, we decided to hit up the Polyensian Spa. That’s right- warm spring water that smells like eggs. We opted for the “adult pools” so we could enjoy the night in peace and quiet. I can honestly say I’ve never seen prettier stars, a brighter full moon, or a prettier sight than soaking in the hot pools about 4 meters from the lake. We marinated for about 3 hours, and then had an amazing dinner at a random restaurant. After a Pack-n-Save trip consisting of candy and Sprite Zero, I was thoroughly impressed by the Olympic men speedwalking back at the Hostel. The next morning we went to Agroadventures for a little FreeFall Extreme, Swoop, and Shweeb. The FreeFall Extreme was basically a flying squirrel experience over a large fan. And no, they body suit they gave me was not long enough, so I looked like a bad version of a ghetto Huck-Fin from the 8Os. [A denim jumpsuit with yellow accents that went MC Hammer in all the wrong places]. In fact, the instructor actually said to me, is that creeping up on you? I’m not going to answer that. So, I laughed until I cried watching both Vanessa and Kaitlyn enjoy themselves and then tried to laugh during my turn, but couldn’t due to the crazy amount of wind blowing in my face.
Next up was the Schweeb- basically, bikes inside of a pill capsule thingy. It was pretty hard on the legs, and a little creepy…. But fun. I talked Kaitlyn into the swing on steroids after the Aerojet was out of commission. The staff saw the fear in our eyes, and took full advantage of creeping us out. After I made our safety person pinky swear we wouldn’t die, I found myself up in the air in a cocoon strapped to Kaitlyn. Instead of freaking out, Kaitlyn was so calm and kept on saying, “Wow, look at the view”. Before we knew it, I had to pull the cord to send us on our way. It was actually so much fun and both Kaitlyn and I could have gone a couple more times. "One more time!!" haha. We then headed back to Rotorua for lunch, walking around in the rain, got tea, and then we waited for our bus, called the Nakedbus, to get there. We slept most of the way home, and Kaitlyn was totally bummed she couldn’t see any more elephants [see below for details]. We got home pretty late, so I am currently behind in all my classes, but it was a great weekend! Watch for pictures!
Oh, and for the title… Kaitlyn definitely looked at me on the bus and said, “Hey, did you see that elephant?” “Um, No- do they have elephants in New Zealand?”
So if anyone knows the answer, please let me know! hahaha
1 comment:
Bethy I just love your story telling!!
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