New Zealand Trip - Day 3 Part 2 - Post by Stuart

13th Jan 2013, Day 3

Jan 13th. Another sunny day with a maximum of about 25c. I took this pic about 7.00am from our room over looking the lake.

It tried to rain early but was never more than a very light sprinkle. We headed out to NZ Off Road about 20ks out of Rotorua. There is a 1.2km cart track there that was built about 2 years ago, it's tight but fun. I have some GoPro footage that I'll post once I can get back to a decent computer. Jodi was slow, I mean in a ten minute session I lapped her twice. I managed to set the second fastest time this week at about 1-14, the carts were just your typical hire carts with the honda engine, the proper carts can run around in the mid 50sec. After the carts we headed out to Waimangu Volcanic Valley, it was cool walking through a volcanic rift valley that is still very active. It smelt like a massive fart and was a little opressive in places but very interesting.

The track was mostly downhill and followed the creek down to the lake.

We took a boat tour out in lake Rotomahana, the actual crater created by the last eruption in 1886. The lake was around 125mtrs deep at the deepest point, it had a few vents and things around the banks but like everything we've seen here so far it was very beautiful.

We got to the Gondala ride up the mountain at Rotorua around 4.30pm, just the right time, the crowds were small and the temperature was back a bit.

After we got to the top we went straight to the skyswing, you sit in a steel frame ball thing, get hoisted up about 25mtrs and then you pull a rope to release the pulley and you drop..... fast.... very fast, the sign says 150kmph in 2 seconds, but like most things over here I'm starting to think actual facts are of very little importance but all the same it's fast, once the initial free fall shock is over you just swing back and forth a few times and they winch you in and off you go to the next ride. I had the GoPro on for the Luge rides down the hill, they are fun, I'll post some vids later. They are pretty hard to roll and there is one track you can get it air bourne too. I tried to push Jodi down the hill a bit faster most of the time, that was worth the price of admission in itself. It was a big day, we are both tuckered out. Off to Napier for a relaxation day tomorrow.