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Mountain Louging – Living Facebook

Almost a year ago I saw a post on Facebook of some guys having a blast louging down a mountain. No one knew where it came from on the thread, but I remember thinking, “Man – I gotta try that.” Most of the time the things I’ve see of Facebook stay things I’ve only seen on Facebook. Well no longer. In New Zealand we stumbled upon Skyline Park in Rotorua. When I saw they had luging I insisted to Jackie that we HAD to go.

When we got there they told us we could only buy packs of at least 5 luge rides with a zip line. We thought that was overdoing it, but without any smaller options we paid the $70pp and went inside.

Good thing we did too! After our first ride down we ran back to the top to do it again, and again, and again… I am usually not the type to go to an amusement park on a vacation while touring a country, but the Kiwis do it in such a unique and outdoorsy way that it is well worth it. The park had awesome Mountain Bike trails and the Zorb, which we didn’t get to try because of time. What a great way to enjoy the New Zealand outdoors and views!

Here is a video of one of the last trips down. By then I got more confident and really let it rip. I even got some air on a couple of the dips – you can hear me hooting when it happens 🙂

Some other non-luge clips:

Here is Jackie before we took our zip line down. I would have had video but since you end up laying back for the ride the whole shot was of the sky

The more speedy way to come down after the zipline. We fell backwards with a quick bungee. It happened so fast I forgot to film it.

One of our many rides back to the top on the Gondola for more fun rides.

Taking the Gondola back up for another fun ride

Hot Springs of New Zealand

Maori Village

On our way through Rotorua we stopped in the living Maori Village in Whakarewarewa Rotorua. There you walk through a town that uses the underlying hot springs to provide energy for cooking, cleaning and heat. It was neat to watch (and feel) our first hot springs up close as they billowed warm steam through the cool air.

They used a series of channels to fill tubs or pools from the main springs.

And the kids asked US to take pictures of them playing when we passed by! Very photo friendly family I guess. 🙂

There are no hired actors here, everyone is a descendant of the original Maori townsmen. You can watch the local family perform traditional Maori Dances.

We even got to take a picture with one of the afterwards.

We then toured the above ground cemetery located right in the town. Interesting looking cemetery with smoke circling the tombs.

Romantic Natural Hot Spring Spa

Our next stop was the Wairakei Terraces & Visitor Centre NETCOR in Taupo. This natural hot sprng stop was a completely different experience than the first. A much more quiet and romantic location these hot springs are partially man maded but are filled with run off from the natural hot springs above. The claclium deposist left from all of the mineral water covers the once man made surface and now is completly integrated with all the natural colors. We spam in the spa for well over an hour. (Supposedly the minral bath helps joints an aches too.)

The Waitomo Glow Worm Caves

We had pretty low expectation for the glow worm caves. For some reason, to us, it sounded gimmicky. We planned to turn it up a notch and do the more active version of the tour which including climbing, floating and spelunking. Unfortunately, we ended up booking the wrong dates and had to switch to a last-minute walking-only tour. The workers were all super nice and luckily we were able to get our $250 back <phew!>

We entered the caves, and, in the beginning, it was much like a tour of Luray Caverns (or any other cave for that matter); stalagmites, stalactites, calcium deposits and interestingly shaped chambers. I was starting to think it was a lot of show and would end up seeing few of these precious glow worms. They really took their time getting to the main attraction. After some walking in what seemed to be circles, we made it to a little boat and floated through the caverns. Once it got dark enough BOOM the ceiling came alive with a starry night-like glow. As it truned out it really was beautiful and worth the time and money to see.

No pictures were allowed in the caves so I don’t have much to show you. I think it is because if you were to take a picture they would probably diminish the spectacle that looks best with the naked eye.

I only got a shot on the way out of the cave so here they are

The Shoe Fence of Hawke’s Bay

As we were driving through New Zealand to Napier we passed by a fence strewn with old shoes and boots. The beautiful country back drop and its old fence had something oddly magical to it. We pulled over and took a few shots and hurried back into the car.

After doing a bit of research later on, it turns out there are many fences filled with shoes, and even bras in New Zealand. The fence of bras turned into a tourist attraction at one point and was deemed a driving hazard by the government (probably because people like me would block the road to take a picture) and required it be taken down. Maybe the shoes are a way to stick it back to the man, or just drum up more tourists. Either way I’m glad we caught a picture – but I woudn’t go out of my way to see it 😉

Our driving route through northern New Zealand

From what we heard, the country side of New Zealand is spectacular. We thought the best way to see NZ was by driving. We rented a car in Auckland and made our way down to Wellington – stopping in each of the must see towns along the way.

Getting use to driving on the other side of the road wasn’t too bad. What we had trouble catching on to was the fact that the turn signal was on the opposite side of the steering wheel than we were use to. On every turn we would accidentally turn on the windshield wipers, have a chuckle and carry on. It took a few hours to get use to that.

In the end it cost us about an extra $90 per day to have the car. It really broke into our budget but flying to all the towns would probably have been worst. Tip: Picking up and dropping the car off at the airport adds an additional %15 cost to the overall bill. If you can, plan well and drop it off in town, but be sure to mind the hours of operation.

What he learned by asking his own questions may shock some – but it shouldn’t

I think this is true all around the world. Rarely do powerful individuals represent an entire nation. Sadly, those that are bent on hate, domination or simply wish to see the worst in people get the most attention in our country and others. That’s what fuels the divide – the news and politics hoping to spark a nation’s fears to cause conflict, get ratings or advance an agenda. Don’t be someone’s pawn. Ask your own questions, start your own conversations and meet the people being ruled by the “other side.”

The beautiful country side of New Zealand

I’m so glad we decided to rent a car and drive through New Zealand. The countryside is truly inspiring. (It is like a constant view of Windows Desktop XP for you nerds out there.) The peaks and valleys of green grass framed with blue skies are something not to be missed You can see why it was a great place to film the countryside for the movie Lord of the Rings.

To make it even more picture perfect we passed thousands of packs of cows and sheep along the way.

Otaki Forks in the Tararua Forest Park

If the roadways of New Zealand are considered majestic then imagine how beautiful the countryside is when you go off the road into specifically designated national forests. We haven’t visited the famous hills of The Sound of Music – yet, but I would have to assume they are similar to these. Since pictures (and video) are worth a thousand words let’s make it easy and have you check out the hyperlapse video below that I took of our hike through the Tararua Forest Park.

As I mentioned the video, the countryside is more of a rolling plains type visual, were as all the forest we visited had more of a tropical foliage landscape.

The Feijoa is a uniquely tasty Kiwi fruit

When we asked our New Zealand friends what we should try while we were there they responded quickly with “The Feijoa!”

I have no idea why this fruit can’t be found anywhere else than New Zealand. It taste just like candy and would go over well with kids if they had to make these part of their daily fruit and veggie regiment. We also found the fruit in soft drinks – which were delicious as well.

I didn’t clarify well at the end of the video but you get the idea. It really does taste like a sweet tart type candy. So much so that it is a bit of a surprise when you eat it. You brain says, I’m about to eat a fruit, but your mouth says “I just ate candy right?”

One side note: We noticed that all the produce in the super market was either labeled “product of New Zealand” or “product of U.S.A” No other country was listed. Thought that was interesting, NZ prefers our produce over their neighbors.

A must visit to Waiheke Island

If I had to sum it up I’d say Waiheke island was a cross between Sausalito, CA and OBX, VA. There are wineries, beautiful mountain views with glistening bays between. We really enjoyed our time here. To make the visit even more unique and special Jackie got us a Glamping tent on AirBnB for our stay.

We happened to have arrived during the Waiheke Jazz festival so most restaurants had bands playing. We strolled through the countryside and stopped at a few wineries. Our first was by far our favorite, Kennedy Point Vinyards. Not only was there a great selection of wine, but the staff was incredible helpful and fun.

The staff explaining a flight of Sarah from freshly picked grapes to aged ones.

Allie, one of the staff at Kennedy Point, saw us walking down the street later in the day and offered a ride home. Our feet were pretty tired so we took it! One conversation led to another and we ended up going to one of the Jazz show with her and her husband Felix. They were such a wonderful couple and we had a awesome time.

The other wineries we visited on Waiheke island were Stoney Ridge, which had an amazing view from it’s balcony, but it was a bit on the pricey side (shown below); and Wild on Waiheke, which didn’t have the friendliest staff and boasted archery and games on the vineyard but the came with an hour wait and around $30 price tag per person.