Day 4: Rotorua

January 23rd 2010

Sheep Sheering, Zorbing, Luging and Cultural Affair... all in one day!!

Our day started by making our way to Rotorua and getting some great information at the Agrodome, where I was able to learn about all the different kinds of sheep in New Zealand. I was able to get up close and personal with the sheep and view what it's like to sheep sheer.

Zorbing
Holy smokes!! Okay so the down low on a zorb.... It's an 11 ft high inflatable transparent sphere which you ride inside. Two feet of air protect me while I rolled down these hills in the Zorb which also had water in it! It was kind of a cross between a water slide and roller coaster but WAY COOLER!!!! It was a total adrenaline rush... needless to say my heart was pounding as i jumped into the Zydro Zorb... and all the way down. But what an experience. I don't know if the website has pics but this is it: http://www.zorb.co.nz/

Hangi and Concert
What I love about New Zealand is all the Maori culture. It's not only prevalent but so respected and talked about on the tour. This town is a hot thermal springs town.... the smell of sulphur is so strong because we are surrounded by the water. Tonight we were able to have a fantastic buffet dinner, and after dinner we watched a cultural performance, which included many of the traditional stories of how the Maori culture came to be in this area of the country, and of course, we were told the famous love story. All of the performers were direct descendants of the famous "Romeo and Juliet" of this town.

The best part of the performance was the dancing of the Haka, which was a war dance performed by the Maori men. This dance was usually done just prior to going out to the battlefield. It was loud, and scary and was meant to prepare the men physically and mentally. It was fantastic. I was also able to partake in the famous women's Maori dance called the "Poi", where we got to work with these contraptions with white spheres on the end of the string. It made me realize that I need to work on my hand-eye co-ordination! LOL

Overall, a busy day, but FANTASTIC!