Fun Kiwi adrenelin activities in RotoVegas

Monday, March 10, 2014
Rotorua, North Island, New Zealand
 
 Mon Mar 10
We had a late breakfast and pack up and then headed out to Rotorua. 
We took our hostess' advice and followed back roads. We stopped in Matamata for kebabs, groceries and a picture of the I-site that looked like a hobbit house.
 Our trout stream accommodations suited the boys well and we had an afternoon of fishing and boating. Laura even found wild blackberries along the shore. 
We enjoyed a home cooked meal which was a nice break from restaurant food. We finished with ping pong and pool in the game room. 
It was a fairly long day of travel but we had fun activities on both sides. Tomorrow we will do many of the Rotorua activities. It should be fun!


 Tue Mar 11
Super fun day doing Rotorua activities.
The boys woke up excited to fish. I thought this would be a pretty quick activity but they lasted 2.5 hours until after 10. We saw trout in the stream on the walk home and also saw a man catch a fish. This definitely reinvigorated our group. 
Laura had gone for a run earlier and I grabbed one while the boys had an overdue breakfast. After some resistance we got them loaded into the car and headed to the gondola and luge. 
Ty claimed that he did nor want to do the luge but agreed to ride tandem with Laura. Suffice it to say that we were all laughing and grinning when we finished the first ride. Our meager purchase of 8 rides was quickly exhausted especially when Ty decided to venture out into his own luge and tempt the intermediate course no less. We were all having a blast.
We soon bought more tickets and only stopped for a late lunch. Three hours of luging later, we found that we had been through 30 tickets. It was super fun and the advanced course had a jump where all the wheels left the ground and some super exciting turns too. We topped it all of with some ice cream and didn't leave the luge facility until after 4. We had a grand time.
Upon returning home, Ty was super excited to go pick blackberries using the dinghy. After some discussion, all the boys loaded into the dinghy with a bucket for berries and a fishing pole for some unlucky trout. The berries were easier to catch than the trout but we all had a ton of fun.

Ty even wanted to keep going and take out a kayak solo. So we switched water craft while Finn kept fishing from the shore. Ty did great in his kayak and the boys all hung out in a bend in the creek while mom prepared dinner.
We had a mellow dinner at home with hungry eaters. We finished off the full day with ping pong and pool in the game room. 
What a super fun day indeed. Tomorrow we plan to try out the Zorb or Ogo and go to an animal park where they let you pet lion cubs. Tomorrow night we are signed up for a Mauri cultural dinner. It should be similar to a luau and we think it will be great for the boys to see the similarities between the Mauri and Hawaiian cultures. 
We are enjoying our stay here in Rotorua and are glad that we came. We are excited for tomorrow's adventures and hope that they equal today's!


 Wed Mar 12
 Morning fishing
 Kevin ran while Laura took boys to breakfast
 Quick game of pool and pong then off to Paradise Valley Animal Park to pet the lion cubs. Had the cubs to ourselves which was special. Much rougher fur than you would expect. Cool experience. 30 kilos of power, readily apparent even in the cubs. 
 Kids enjoyed rest of park more than I expected which was nice. They has fun with there animal food feeding trout, ducks and llamas.
 Next stop was the Ogo. Finn and I rode together and it was fun. Will be excited to see the video. He enjoyed it so much that he went for a second run. 
 
 We headed back to the animal park for the 2:30 lion feeding. It was interesting but not phenomenal. We had a picnic lunch of yummy Indian in the shade and headed home for some rest. We bought gas, bread and ice cream on the way home. 
 After a short break and some food for the boys, Ty was excited to kayak. We had a fun paddle and went all the way to the lake. At the bridge, local boys were jumping and asked if they could splash me. We had fun including a capsize at the end which was a bit chilly. Ty showed his kayak prowess and even docked and exited the kayak on his own. 
 We showered and got warmed up and then headed out for the Mitai Mauri experience. It was fun and informative and taught us about the weapons, instruments, face paint and more. It went a bit late so we skipped the glow worms at the end and the boys held up very well. 
 Tomorrow is our long drive to north of Auckland to the small beach town of Waipu Cove. A storm is supposed to be coming for the weekend, so we will see what the next few days have in store. 
 So far it has been a fun and eventful trip!

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