Shannon McDuff’s Blog

annnddd… late again…

Today we woke up and had our coco puffs in our cups… with a little spoon…. then we packed up and checked out of the Rydges hotel.

We left Rotarua and headed off to Hamilton. On the way we stopped at somce place that I can’t remember the name of, but there were two buildings. One was a giant sheep and one was a giant dog! That was pretty cooooool… then we arrived in hamilton. We had trouble finding our hotel due to bad directions from wotif….. and because one side of the street was closed.. but we finaly made it…. (stupid directions… because it wasn’t on the corner of anything.. it was BEHIND another building lol) however,… they didn’t offer free parking.. you would have to pay $15 for vale parking.. so we decided to look around the town and go to the shops before looking for somewhere else to park the car..

Went to a few shopping centers.. including a GIANT two story “The Wearhouse”…which is still called the wearhouse in NZ un like Australia…. then we came back to the hotel and decided to pay the man to park the car because it was to unsafe to leave it out in the open….. then we had a relax in the hotel…

By that time is was lunch.. so we walked over to a shopping center that we relased we had just parked at and waster $3 when we could have walked….. I did a bit of shopping for some clothes… while ben went up and brought some pop corn and coke for the movie we were going to watch at the hotel…

went back to the hotel and selected a movie to watch (only $14.00) - is cheaper then going to movies… then… by that time.. it was dinner time… and we decided to head downstairs, have a drink with a wedges platter… and off to bed!

Then…. while Ben did some work on his laptop - I walked over to the shops and did some clothes shopping = ) then… I came back to the hotel and we watched a movie.. that has slipped my mind….but it was a good movie. Only $14.00 to watch it.. cheaper then the movies!

and.. I can’t remember what order we did eevrything in.. so I shall come abck and edit this post later. = )

Woke up this morning and had breakfast in the hotel, then we went off to the Agrodome!

Was pretty interesting dirving out to the Agrodome because there was a marthathon on.  There was a line of poeple jogging the Rotarua matharthon, stretching out at least 3km! The Marathon is self was 42km long with 2 and a half thousand people participating!

Amazing because you try and do that in Hervey Bay and you’ll get about 15 people turning up! (if that)

Once we arrived at the Agrodome we watch a show that went for a hour. Awesome-est show ever!!!! It involved all the different types of sheep’s there were out in the world,milking a cow (which I participated in, on stage),watching the sheep dogs herd up some ducks (because sheep’s would run off the stage), sheering a sheep and watching the sheep dogs run up and along the different sheep’s back!

It was so interesting to watch!!! There was a podium for all the different types of sheep to stand on. Once they were left of their leash they new exactly where to go (obviously they do it like, 4 times a day). Before they go on stage they are kept in little pens on the side of the audience where everyone could come up and take photos and pat them before the show begins. They were used to the peoples attention because they didn’t seem to care ONE BIT!

After the show you could come up on stage and get photos/pat the dogs and sheep! The dogs were also very placid and very friendly to humans.

After the show we go to watch one of the dogs out in the paddock - round up some sheep! It was such a awesome experience because I just love watching dogs herd up sheep/cattle.

The owner used a whistle to tell the dog where to go (he also used the whistle on stage, while performing). He made the dog herd them through gates and over a little bridge, then finally into a pen! AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Afterwards we went on a farm ride. This farm ride was a trailer (with lots of seats on it) attached to a tractor. Can I point out that today was SOOO COLD!!!!, it was ok sitting in the show because there was some heaters going.. but going on the farm ride the wind was FREZING!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway, on the way we saw all the different animals.. tasted some kiwi fruit juice + wine… fed some sheep and lamas… and visited the cow (which included fregen cows and scottish cows). These cows were HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ( lots of photos were taken).

Afterwards, we tossed about weather or not we would go on the zorb of not since it was SO COLD!!!!!!!!!!!!

For those who don’t know what the Zorb is… its like a big bubble that you get into with water…(cold -during summer, warm- during winter) and you roll down a big hill inside this giant bubble!  We ended up decided that we would suck it up and strip down to our togs with icey winds!!!!! and travel up the big hill to get inside the giant bubble!

To get inside the bubble (because there is only a little whole) you have to get a run up and dive in it like super man lol. Once Ben was in and once I made sure that the water was actually warm and they weren’ t just saying it was, I dive in!! (only to scrap my side on one of the zippers that get closed once you are inside - to keep the water in). We ( Ben and I) Had to start crawling on our hands and knees to get it rolling, but once it was off the block it tumbled down the hill with us inside. Inside we were being tossed around and it was a lot of fun!!!!

Afterwards we had a nice warm spa back at the hotel since it was so cold outside.

For dinner - we went to Pizza Hut - the buffe… and omg… DISGUSTING! lol The tables were all dirty… it took about 10 mins to get our drinks. The pizza tasted like rubber, the ice-cream melted as soon as it came out of the machine (and it was like it was mixed with water), the chips just squished together when you tried to pick them up… and yes, well you get the drift….

OH! And there was this lady who was eating tea at one of the tables.. and she got up. grab the empty pizza plate from the buffe, walked into the cooking area and grabbed another pizza….. odd…….. lol

but anyway - great day today = )

* Also had lunch at the Fat Dog Cafe that was really really busy, but the meal still came out very promptly

Woke up this morning.. and had coco pops that we brought last night (out of a cup! and used a spoon to eat them). Then went for a drive to see some of the natural springs..then went to the information centre to see what we could do while we were in Rotarua.

booked a few things.

After that, went back to the room and decided to go to “Hells Gate” which is more of the natural hot springs which was really good. (it was free because we got it in a deal that included a show + dinner… and the free “Hells Gate)

Afterwards we had lunch at the “Pigs Whistle” then went back to the room till 5:45 (which is the dinner + show = Te Po, indigenous evening experience). This was really entertaining and I learnt a lot. We had a show… then we had a buffet dinner, then after dinner we were taken to the Geiser which is like a volcano that erupts every hour and sperts out water. At night time the water coming out looked really good and it was so amazing because everything is natural!!! It was a bit cold so we got given blankets and a hot chocolate. As well as this - we got to sit on the hot step (due to natural underground hearting)… the only bad bit was burning my hand and my but on the hot step rocks (unfortunately I was under a heating vent lol)

but I am looking foward to tomorrow!

NIGHT!

Again late….. but I was a bit tired to write last night.

We checked out of our motel and went to bakery for breakfast (unhealthy pie fror breakfast). Then caught a taxi to pick up our hire car.

Cute little Daihatsu - red and its a manual!

Then we drove to Rotarua - but not before stopping off to the sea the glow worms at the caves.

The glow worms included a little tour around the cave, and then you went on a boat ride where you saw all the glow worms. (pretty awesome!)

Then… arrived at Rotarua (STINKY!).. but you get used to it the longer you are smelling it.

In our room at Rydges we have our own spa - so had a relaxing spa, hit the bar that was on the same floor as the room….

Then walked over to burger king for tea … did a bit of shopping so that we wouldn’t have to get take away all the time… (got back to the hotel to find that we only have one cup and one spoon in the whole room, to eat off)

Then went to bed around 9:00pm

Woke up this morning around 10:30am and had breakfast/lunch at the bakery around the corner.

Was a pretty relaxing day - Walked down to the Harbour and took a look a the water. Went and looked at a information place for what we can do the rest of the days that we are here and to find out where we can pick up the car tomorrow. (heading off to Rotarua tomorrow) Went to westfield shopping centre….. then went to the Maritime Museum, which is a museum about boats. Was a tad hard to read everything with Ben just racing through everything! After that we were going to go into minus 5 but they wouldn’t accept our australian drivers licence as I.D, and we didn’t have our passports with us.. so just went back up to the room because I couldn’t be bothered to go all the way back down again.

For dinner, we walked to the Skycity tower and went up that to have dinner on the observation deck. Was a buffet! After dinner, headed back to the hotel for a few drinks then bed!

I am a bit late in writing this - but it doesn’t matter.

28th of April - my birthday - I set of on the plane to New Zealand.

Flew from the Gold Coast - Auckland. 

The plane was delayed 25mins.. which was a tad annoying, but I survived. Arrived in New Zealand 12:15am NZ time, but before getting off - We were all reminded about the swine flue and if you have any of the symptons to let the staff know.

Went through customs fine and got a taxi to our hotel which took about half an hour to get to. Cost was $70.. which sucked but we were both pretty tired by this time so we didn’t care that much.

Checked in, and was in bed by 1:30am

and … that was day one - and yes, I had a good birthday = )….. 20 years old now - i feel old! haha