Day 4

Hahei to Rotorua

















We woke to the sound of a downpour and to Ally crying. Ally had a fever and was miserable. We pulled our wet shoes inside the campervan and figured the laundry hanging on the line and the camp gear could be re-dried. I then spent the rest of the night blowing Ally’s nose, rubbing her tummy and watching over her. When we woke for morning, it was late and we were all still tired. The clouds had broken up, but the wind had taken its place. We didn’t realize till then how lucky we were to get a smooth, warm perfect day for kayaking the day before. Our plan today was mostly driving and possibly blow-karting. Seeing the wind Steven, knew he had to do it.

I went for a quick jog and to the store while everyone was still asleep. I came back to Steven cooking a nice breakfast of bacon and eggs for us. After eating and cleaning up, we drove to Hot Water Beach. It’s a famous for its hot spring fissures that leak up steamy hot water during low tide. We rented a shovel and headed out with the crowds. After no luck for a while, everyone realized that the tide needed to go out a bit more. What started as a bunch of hot tub holes became a big communal one. The spot we could find the hot water was still at the edge of the waves, so every time we dug a hole the waves would fill it in. But we could definitely feel the hot water. If you stuck your feet in more than a few inches into the sand, it got too hot! Our kayak guide had told us about a lady how jumped in her hole without testing the temperature and had to be helicopter airlifted to a hospital. Instead of waiting for the tide to finish going out, we felt we got enough of the concept and experience to head on. Today was one of our longest drive days. I thought it would take us around 3 hours. With the late start, we had to skip my hike and train in Karangahake Gorge and lunch at a winery. But we did make it to Blow-kart in plenty of time.

Blow-kart is a cross between a sail boat and a go-kart. Just up Steven’s alley. Austin was crushed to find out he wasn’t old enough to go. They used to have duel person karts that kids could ride in, but stopped after some kids got hurt. The day was so windy, the owner was only letting ages 13 and up go on the track. I think it helped that Austin saw a group of 3 boys that couldn’t go either.

But Dad did go, and go he did. Steven zipped around corners, lifting his tires off the ground. If we ever had a good place to use one, we could see owning one in our future.

Austin was so disappointed that we made a serious effort to get to the Zorb that evening. But first we stopped at a kiwi orchard and processing plant. The tours were over for the day, which was probably better for our schedule. At Kiwi 360, we basically looked in the shop and went potty, but it was cool to see a kiwi orchard. It was laden with fruit, just that the fruit weren’t ripe otherwise, we would have been still sitting there eating them.

After the Orchard we made it to the Zorb near Rotorua. It was twilight, and we were the only ones in the place. The wind was still up, so our only choice was to Zorb with water. We jumped in a rugged, old van and drove up to the top of the hill. There the guy put some warm water in it and then we climbed in a little hole. Once he tapped the side we’d start crawling like a hamster in a wheel. Austin rode with Dad and Ally rode with me. Once the ball got rolling, we’d jump back on our bottoms and ride like a combination of wash machine a waterslide. The water inside stops you from turning complete circles, so it has more waterslide momentum. We were warm inside, but once we slid out, we were freezing! But even the cold couldn’t stop our excitement. We asked if we could buy one more trip, but since they were near closing, they gave us another ride for free! This time Ally, Austin and I rode together, crashing and bashing and laughing the whole way down.

As soon as we could, we ran for the motorhome, put on warm, dry clothes and headed down to fuel up at Fat Dog Café in Rotorua and on to our camp. Even though it was almost dark, we could tell the park was scenic. The Top Ten Holiday park was at the edge of Blue Lake. I felt like I could have been in Washington State, except the water was a lot warmer! Since it was late and we were tired, we pulled in, plugged in and went to sleep.