As a large group of eight, it was a bit hard to plan and coordinate things since everyone had their own schedule, but in the end things worked out well. We departed in two separate groups: one on Friday morning, and one later in the evening. Then one group would return on Sunday evening, while the other would come back Monday afternoon. I had to hand in a lab report early so I could go leave on Friday morning, but it was well worth it.
Our map/itinerary (click the link)
Friday
Friday morning, Ammar, Ross, Allie, Krissi and I hauled ourselves out of bed to pick up the Jucy campervan at 8am. After being here for 5 weeks (has it been that long already!?), we've learned that booking a campervan is by far the cheapest way to travel on this type of weekend trip, as most hostels charge per-person, and it can be hard to find cheap cabins that you can all squeeze into. Although our final destination was Rotorua, we had a whole day to kill until the other group arrived with their campervan. We decided to take a less direct route to Rotorua so we could hit up the coastal port city of Tauranga, found in the heart of the Bay of Plenty. On the way, we stopped to jump on and explore some suspension bridges.
After a three hour drive, we arrived in Tauranga. We grabbed lunch in the city center and then hiked up Mount Maunganui, an extinct volcanic cone at the tip of a peninsula just outside of Tauranga. As we hiked up the trail, we had beautiful views of a calm, sheltered beach.
Mt. Maunganui from a distance
Ross and Ammar on a bench with a killer view.Climbing a bit higher, this transformed into a stunning view of the open ocean.
Further on, we ran into quite a surprise: two parachuters were preparing to launch themselves off the precipice and sail down to the beach below! We walked to a ledge to watch the men make their jump. I felt like I was watching one of those videos in an outdoor adventure store. The first guy flew out of sight after about 15 seconds.
Here's a video I took. You can hear the paparazzi in the background.
The second parachuter hung in the air for ages, just cruising around and riding the updrafts and constant breeze off the ocean. We swore he was just showing off for us.
Happy to have been so fortunate with our timing, we hiked up the last bit of the trail to the summit. The view of the town and coastline on the other side completely blew away anything we had previously seen on the hike.
We hiked down to the beach, where we had a nice stroll through the sand.
Allie, Krissi, Ross, and I pose
We walked over to a small peninsula jutting out into the water, climbed the rocks, and watched the waves crash into the shore.
Next, we drove onward to Rotorua. Getting out of the car was a bit of a shock. We opened the camper door and were greeted by an incapacitating wave of foul-smelling sulfur. It was horrible--worse than rotten eggs. After a few minutes, we got over the smell. Still, it certainly played a role in our decision to drive out of town to find a place to park for the night. We happened upon a nice secluded spot overlooking Lake Rotorua, where we met up with Brodie, Zach, and Emily, who had just arrived with their camper. The lake is a water-filled caldera, or massive crater, which formed when the magma chamber beneath an ancient volcano collapsed upon erupting 240,000 years ago.
This panorama of Lake Rotorua is shamelessly taken from Wikipedia (click to enlarge)
Saturday
The next morning, we woke up early to white water raft with Kaitiaki Adventures. This company runs trips down a section of the Kaituna river, with rapids ranging from class 3 to an astonishing class 5 waterfall. At 7m, it's the tallest commercially rafted waterfall in the world! If you’re short on time, go ahead and skip the following epic rafting tale, but make sure to check out the pictures below.
After being equipped with a warm fleece, wetsuit, water shoes, helmet, and life vest, we were ready to go. We received a brief safety lecture on the drive to the river. Next thing we knew, we were launching the rafts. Our raft was five of us, a vacationing couple from Michigan, and the guide. We learned and practiced the basic paddling commands on the actual river in the calmer waters at the beginning: forwards and backwards, with varying intensity depending on the volume of the guide's voice. He took care of all the steering. There were also commands to "hold on" (which involved putting your paddle on the outside of the raft and holding onto a rope there so no one can get hit with it), as well as "GET DOWN," wherein you did the same as the "hold on" position, but also crouched down in the raft and tucked your head into your knees.
What the guides didn't tell us while practicing, however, is that you have to rush to get into said positions, as you are paddling immediately before the rapids in order to get the raft in the correct position so that you can ride the rapid safely. The opening rapids were fun, but nothing compared to what was coming.
Just before the waterfall, our guide held onto a rope attached to the river wall and had us do a Maori chant, which really got the blood flowing. Watching the raft before us go over the waterfall, I couldn't help but be reminded of the first drop on a roller coaster. With everyone in the "GET DOWN" position, the raft really resembled a coaster car. The brief review of safety procedure just above the falls was like the lift hill. I felt the excitement and anxiety building… Plan A) We ride the waterfall smoothly and there are no complications; Plan B) The immense force of the waterfall, which actually pushes the raft underwater, causes someone to be thrown from the raft as it rebounds upwards and emerges above the water; Plan C) The raft rebounds at an awkward angle, causing it to capsize, and everyone is thrown overboard. Fortunately, the water is very calm just beyond the waterfall, and with the help of an additional safety guide in a kayak, this allows a group to recovery from any of the above scenarios.
After receiving the go-ahead, we slowly drifted toward the falls in the “GET DOWN” position. I almost forgot to take a deep breath, but as we went over the edge, I did so in the form of a huge gasp. It was a whirlpool of white below me, and then suddenly we were under water, and then flying out of it. Somehow, though, we didn't flip! My :O face is well-captured in the photo below.
For the rest of the amazing rafting pictures, check out the Facebook album, which is open to everyone:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150743208220447.719695.734755446&l=790ad0bea2&type=1
After the waterfall, we thought all the big thrills were over. But BOY were we wrong. Soon, all hell broke loose. On the next rapid, a measly class 3, our guide gave us the option to hold on, or to just ride the rapid out for some more excitement. Looking for a bigger thrill, of course I opted not to hold on. But as we approached the rapid, I realized something was wrong. The guide's steering was off, and we were entering the rapid at a bad angle. As we plunged into the white water, I flailed to get into the "hold on" position, but it was too late--the raft was on its side, I was in the air, and then in the water. Unlike the 7m waterfall, the water following this rapid was rough, and the guides weren’t prepared for a raft to capsize at that moment, so this was a serious situation. I had no idea which way was up, or where anyone was. Limbs were everywhere. After a moment, my lifevest lifted me towards the surface, but my head couldn't breach it. The raft had fallen on TOP of me! Not expecting to capsize on such a small rapid, I hadn't taken a breath beforehand. I desperately tried to get out from under the raft, but couldn't. I had no idea which was the long end, and which the short. Like the guides had instructed earlier, I chucked my paddle, as it was now a hindrance. After a few seconds, it registered that I had been swimming in the same direction of the current, and so the raft was moving with me, which was why I couldn't get out from under it. I used with my hands to feel the drift direction of the raft, and rushed to swim in the opposite direction. I found the edge of the raft, broke through the surface, and gasped for air. I saw a couple others holding onto the edge of the raft, and Emily comically holding onto a rock in an eddy several yards upstream. Before I could take in more, the guide from the raft behind us, which had now caught up, instructed me to grab the end of his paddle, and pulled me towards his raft. By the time they hauled Emily and me into their raft, our old raft had been righted by our guide. But we had been drifting downstream the whole time, and our old raft rounded a bend before the guides could get an accurate headcount. The guide of the raft I was now in yelled at us to search the water for any signs of a man overboard. Nothing. After a nerve-wracking minute, we continued downstream, over a rapid, and then entered a calm area where the other rafts were waiting. Luckily everyone was safe, although some of us were definitely shaken up. One of my friends, Ammar, got caught in a current after being flung from the raft and actually ended up riding the next rapid alone in the water! I have no idea exactly what happened to the others. All I can say is that it was complete chaos. Still, it was quite the adrenaline rush, and definitely made the experience all the more memorable, albeit a bit terrifying.
After rafting, we drove back through Rotorua and then southeast to hike Rainbow Mountain.
On the way up there was a lookout for a bubbling crater lake, surrounded by iron red cliffs. When we stopped for a moment, we could actually hear the gas bubbles coming up all around us.
Steaming sulfuric vents. The ground was alive!After a 1.5 hour hike up, we were rewarded with sweeping views of the region.
Sunday
Since our campervan was due back at 6pm and we had a three hour drive back to Auckland ahead of us, Sunday was a shorter day for my group. In the morning, we took a brief hike in New Zealand’s own Redwood Forest. In the early 1900s naturalists imported redwoods from California, and they successfully took root in the area. The trees were absolutely colossal. According to the Redwood Grove’s website, the largest redwood here is about 220 feet tall and 5.6 feet in diameter.
Next, we did an activity called Zorbing. Zorbing is rolling down a hill inside a giant plastic orb, essentially like a hamster ball. While it sounds, and arguably also looks, stupid, we had only heard good things from friends who had done it, so we went ahead and tried it. Well I’m glad we did, because it was an outrageous amount of fun. I have never laughed so much while being completely alone in my entire life. The only way I can explain it is that it was like an infinite, disorienting, hysterical water slide (they add water inside the zorb to lubricate it so there’s less friction). I chose to ride the Zig-Zag track, so the moment I hit the first bump, I fell on my butt and stayed there for the remainder of the hilarious ride. It’s hard to explain it in any more detail with words alone, so here is a video of some strangers Zorbing to give you a better idea:
The Zorb hill and facilitiesAfter Zorbing, we said our farewells to the Monday group and then drove back to Auckland, bringing our amazing and thrilling weekend to a close.
