Ollie woke me when our alarm went off at 6.45A.M and I promptly went back to sleep for another hour. You see, we were supposed to get up to watch the sunrise over the bay but sleep was always going to win me over until a very annoyed Oliver woke me again and insisted that I get up! As he grumpily made us a cup of tea and repeatedly moaned that I had caused him to miss the apparently renowned wonder that is the sunrise at Mt Manganui I got dressed and enjoyed the feeling my nice long sleep had given me.
After brushing my teeth for the first time in two days (grosse I know!) and feeling much fresher, we set off for the base of Mt Manganui looking forward to climbing it. As we approached the first steps leading up to the path, a runner past us and sprinted up the twenty steps, taking off like an over coiled spring that has finally been released. If there’s anything that can make one feel unfit before a mountain climb that has to be it! Cursing under my four layers of clothing (that were all but one removed a few feet later in a burst of energy and morning sun related temperature increase) I walked on slowly, hoping this morning wouldn’t be a repeat of yesterday.
I made Ollie select the easier route up the mount, fearing the worst and still really half asleep. But I’m glad I did because on our pathway we got to walk around the whole mountain and see the huge sand dune covered in pines that juts out into the bay, the docks (again) and look out across the sea to the point where it disappears into the sky. It didn’t take us long to reach the top and once there we were able to sit and enjoy the views in a perfect silence. As I looked out across the ocean I decided that in the future if I ever feel stressed out or need to take a minute to just relax I will return in my head to that spot on the top of Mt Manganui and I know that I’ll instantly feel more peaceful. There was just something about being surrounded in all directions by blue, nothing but blue that felt amazing.
The walk back down was just as enjoyable and Ollie and I chatted away about the news, the radio and life in general. I realised how weird it felt to be talking about New Zealand news and knowing far more about that than what’s going on at home. As if the whole idea of ‘home’ was some how disbanding and moving to catch us where we are. We are so used to New Zealand now that it’s unnerving to think we will soon be leaving to start yet another kind of life in another country. When people ask us where we’re from it even feels a bit funny to say England...
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Rotorua is just under an hour inland from Tauranga and we reached the smelly city, also known as ‘Rotavegas’ (not sure why but I suppose the tourist draw might have something to do with it!) just after midday. We had decided to do two activities while there and the first was to have a ride on the luge. Situated on the side of a mountain/volcano (never sure which over here!) the track is split into three grades of difficulty from scenic to advanced. To get to the top we took a gondola ride that over looked the city and Lake Rotorua beyond. While we were pulled silently to the the other end all I could think of was the scene in one James Bond film, possibly ‘Moonraker’, where Bond and Jaws have a big fight scene in and around a gondola while the helpless girl screams inside. So I was on the look out for a set of metal teeth as we passed other empty gondolas!
We selected our helmets and although I wanted to wear a green one, I ended up with red because I had to have a child’s size. What made it even more embarrassing was the fact that I had put mine on wrong and it covered my eyes. But luckily for me I have a husband to sort those kind of issues out and soon I was able to see again! We had bought a three ride ticket and decided to ride each track from novice to expert. We got into our luge’s and were off. They picked up speed pretty fast and soon I was bobbling down the hill, hands freezing, jealous of the kids with gloves and trying my best not to scream as I rounded each bend. Ollie meanwhile thought it was funny to try and bash me off the road and to do massive turns that pulled his cart half way off the ground. By the time we reached the end of the track I was feeling more of a pro and was even moaning to Ollie about the ‘stupid kids’ who had got in my way and slowed me down.
We had to take the chair lift back to the start and although I was a little apprehensive at the thought, the experience wasn’t that bad. I didn’t slip off as I had feared and I think I even enjoyed the ride! The second track was faster and by the bottom we were both definitely ready to take on the advanced course. It was our last ride and we wanted to make the most of it. Pushing off we raced as fast as we could (or I dared) and as I flew over one hill I even got a bit of air time! Of course Ollie was faster than me but I didn’t let myself down too much! I was surprised at how reckless I felt and what a need for speed I apparently harbour deep down...very deep down I might add! Deciding that the gondolas had excellent acoustics and wanting to demonstrate this to Ollie, I entertained him with a return ride full of nursery rhymes, and although his face looked as if it was slowly being peeled off with a blunt scalpel I think he enjoyed the experience really...
Next we drove twenty minutes south to a place called ‘Hells Gate’ where a flyer had promised a vast amount of ‘Geothermal activity’ for us to explore. We arrived to a car park full of steam and a bubbling river. We chose to take the mud bath and sulphur spa experience and were quickly led to an outside area where a woman handed us a plastic box and told us to put all our clothes and jewelry into it. It sounds a bit like we had just rocked up at a prison and it did feel kind of like that as I undressed in a freezing shelter. Ollie was ready much quicker than me (sometimes I wonder why I wear so many rings and earrings!) and by the time I was in my togs he was already enjoying a sulphur bath. It isn’t as poisonous as it sounds but they do stink! I only had time to dip my toe in before the woman came back and led us through to our very own ‘mud bath’. After informing us we had twenty minutes in there before we had to get out due to a risk of ‘dizziness and fainting’ the woman disappeared and left us to become pigs.
Ollie was immediately disappointed that the whole pit wasn’t just solid mud and that it was more of a mud and water combination. I on the other hand was perfectly happy with a 38C pool of gloopyness. We dragged our hands across the bottom and brought up the squigy mass that was laying beneath us. Rubbing it over our arms and chests we had a great time experimenting with the mud and seeing what different things we could do with it, which sounds far more dodgy than it was! It was as if I was a kid again and basically I was in my element! A small mud fight almost broke out but due to the fact it would have stung our eyes real bad it was a pretty tame one! Our time went far to quickly and soon a guy was there to lead us out. Now just before it was our turn to leave the mud bath we had seen two other women in the next bath along leave theirs and what followed sounded like the most hellish torture anyone could ever be put under. Once out of the bath, they made you take...a cold shower! Now that might not seem so bad, and I didn’t think so, but after hearing the terrifying screams and weird noises coming from the two women before us, Ollie and I were left in a panic.
We got out of the mud and followed ‘Raj’ to the shower. He turned on one and sent Ollie under. His face immediately turned to horror and he let out a loud ‘arghhh’. Then it was my turn. The shower went on and I pushed half my body into the water. At that point, and I’m sorry Mum, I let out a shrieking expletive that might just rhyme with ‘luck’! After 38C mud that water was BLOODY FREEZING! I could hear the group in another bath start laughing at me as I tried to persuade ‘Raj’ I’d done enough while he insisted that I get my head under as I hadn’t yet. Eventually I did but only for a second. Apparently the shower was to get our circulation running again and to stop us from feeling light headed after the heat and density of the mud. I was so relieved when Raj finally let me back into the lovely warm sulphur pool. I liked him again even more when he told me to hop into the pool next to that one as it was an amazing 40C!
Sitting there in the open air surrounded by the stink of rotten eggs was so relaxing and even when other people were having to leave the hottest pool because they couldn’t take it any longer, I was still loving it! That was until Raj told me to jump back in the cold shower because by doing that I would get my blood pumping to the surface of my skin and the next time I got in the pool it would feel even better. I was even more appalled when he suggested I repeat this process a number of times as it would make me feel even nicer. But he was right. Each time I dared to get splashed in the cold water, the hot pool felt even better and made every part of my skin start to tingle. The cold showers also helped me not to faint! The sulphur pool made me feel pretty light headed and at one point I actually thought I was about to hit the floor but luckily the shower sorted me out. Ollie and I were both so glad we had chosen to visit the mud baths and even though the first shower did feel like something close to ‘Hell’ it was definitely worth it. We left with super soft skin and both very stinky but we didn’t mind.
We picked a camp site near the centre of the town and arrived just as it was getting dark. We needed to do some washing and use some electricity so had decided to pay for a nights stay somewhere. In the middle of the complex there was two hot mineral pools that were open all evening and lit up with pretty blue fairy lights. After putting our stuff into the washing machines we quickly changed and hopped into the hottest pool (obviously). There we able to indulge yet again in an awesome bath while looking up at the stars. It had been a particularly awesome day and finally for the first time since we left Auckland I was starting to relax into the idea of traveling once again.
11/7/12
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