Yesterday, after departing our hotel in Sydney at 3 AM, we boarded our Qantas flight to Auckland in New Zealand, Land of the Long White Cloud. After our flight and three hour bus ride we arrived in our first Kiwi destination, Rotorua. Our hotel is right next to Lake Rotorua, which smells very strongly of sulfur due to the active geothermal area.
We didn't have much time to get unpacked before we went to a Maori village where we were treated to a lesson in their history and culture. We enjoyed a traditional Maori meal and dessert, which were sweet as! This is the first time many of us had pavlova (a cake like dessert with a fruit topping). It might seriously be the best thing on earth.
Bob Bredin was our chief while we were there. We had to have a chief, who would represent our group and ensure that we were friends and not enemies to the Maori and their village. Bob even participated in their traditional Maori greeting of pressing noses with the person (this would be equivalent to our hand shake).
Today we went to Te Puia, a geothermal area outside of Rotorua, that is home to many geysers and bubbling mud pits. There was even a building that housed two Kiwis. These birds are the official symbol of New Zealand.
From there we drove to the Agrodome where we saw a sheep show featuring 19 breeds of sheep. There were also a variety of extreme sports offered here that students took part in, including, zorbing, shweebing, and swooping.
The most adrenaline-pumping part of the trip happened in the afternoon when we went whitewater rafting! Once entering the water we spent 45 minutes bouncing around rocks and dropping off waterfalls. One waterfall, an astounding 7 meter drop(21 feet!) is the highest commercially rafted waterfall in the world. Luckily everyone survived and all in one piece!
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