Stepping off the bus in Rotorua is the equivalent of being slapped in the face with several improperly poached eggs. Apparently it’s meant to smell like that.
Our first stop was Rainbow Springs nature reserve. Having begrudgingly accepted that finding a nocturnal brown animal in a forest in the dark in an unfamiliar country is unlikely, we decided not to search for wild kiwis and instead decided to visit them in a conservation park.
Rainbow Springs has hatched and released over 2000 kiwis into the wild, with a 65% survival rate (up from 5% in the wild). We weren’t able to take photos so instead, here are our top 3 facts about kiwis:
- They have an umbilical cord and a belly button.
- Despite being flightless, they have wings the size of a thumb for hooking their beaks into whilst they sleep. That is it’s exclusive purpose.
- The female bird can carry eggs 2/3rd the size of their body… which is like a Frances being pregnant with a baby the size of a 3 year old.
Rainbow springs also helps with conservation of other endangered species, like this little guy Harold.
Looks are deceiving. Harold’s actually a cunning evil mastermind who has figured out he can escape his conservation avery if he swoop-attacks any tourist that comes inside, and then darts through the door as they open it to get-away. They’ve had to install a magnetic ‘airlock’ door system to stop him. Like Alien.
After surviving Harold, and much deliberating over which kiwi soft toy to buy, we left to meet up with our friends. The weather has taken a dramatic turn for the worse since the Bay of Islands, but Lizzie & Hannah had it covered. They introduced us to their style of travelling; hopping between coffee shops and ice cream parlours until happy hour starts. Time well spent. After a few £2.50 wines, we headed off to a Maori experience evening.
Our hosts for the evening entertained us with cultural performances whilst we awaited the traditional Hangi dinner; meats, potatoes and veg steam cooked on hot stones deep underground. This was pretty well timed as Frances had started getting hangry for Hangi.
The following day we caught the bus to Waiotapu; an expansive geothermal park. Rotorua sits on a lot of natural geothermal pools, which is how the area has acquired its eggy aroma. By the time we arrived at the park we discovered we had about 10 minutes to complete the 40 minute walk to one of the main attractions, The Lady Knox Geyser, before it was induced to erupt. Thankfully a kind lady took pity on us and bundled us into the back of her car, so we made it just in time.
After the eruption it was back to the main park. There were mud pools, geysers and bright green acidic lakes. It’s astonishing what people will dip their hands into, especially when there’s a multitude of signs around them saying the water is 100 degrees with a pH of <2.
By the time we were back to the main centre, it was conveniently 5 o’clock again – happy hour round two. This time the waiter made the experience much more efficient by giving us ‘our usual’. We were regulars in under 24 hours. A few more rounds of drinks fuelled a competitive game of scrabble (Frances won) and then it was time to say goodbye to Hannah and Lizzie (who are heading up north) as well as to Rotorua.
We’ve now made it to Taupo, where currently every raincloud in New Zealand seems to have gathered for a convention. Hopefully that stops so that we can have a go at doing the Tongariro Crossing with some other friends we are meeting. Andrew couldn’t do the crossing last time he was here because of the wind and rain, so he’s currently having traumatic flashbacks. If it all goes wrong our next post might just be pictures of sad Andrew in different kinds of rain.
There & Back Again 