Last weekend a group of us (20 actually) rented cars and drove down to Rotorua! Rotorua is known for its geothermal activity and natural hot springs, and is known to smell like sulfur... not super pleasant.
We somehow got the troupes up (some after a long night of drinking) and left our hall at 7:15 in the morning and then drove about 3 hours south. It was overcast and sprinkling slightly so half of our group went straight to the hot springs and the rest of us went on a hike!
We hiked up Rainbow Mountain, which I assume is called that because of the red streaking in the rocks and mud all over the mountain.
At the base of the mountain was this really blue lake! It was so vibrant even on the gloomy day :)
I am not going to lie... the hike was a little bit of a struggle as my legs were sore from the gym and it was pretty steep. But the views along the way let us know that getting to the top would be worth it!
I love hiking mountains because it feels so rewarding knowing that you had to work for the breath taking views at the top.
After the hike I had my first experience in a natural hot spring! I usually don't love hot tubs if they are too hot, but this place was perfect: the hot spring met a cold river and you could at any time be 1 foot away from either warmer or colder water. You could literally adjust the temperature around you by moving just a tiny bit! It was perfect for me :) (I know I compared it to a hot tub but its not like that whatsoever, it is just a shallow spot right on the edge of the river that you could kneel in the sand and have the water up to your shoulders.)
We went and set up camp afterwards and ate dinner. We had a makeshift game of volleyball going where the net was a tent thread spread from the back hatch of one car to the other. It’s amazing what you can do to have fun when you have so little with you!
We went back to the hot spring that night with candles and alcohol. It was one of the best nights I have had here so far! The candles sat in little shelves in the rock that surrounded the spring and created such a great relaxing atmosphere. It was so nice to sip my wine in a crazy awesome hot spring with all of my friends :)
Unfortunately it rained and the cramped tent I was in got a bit wet... and the warden came at 7am and woke us all up because we hadn't paid yet :X The guy was pretty nice after we all paid haha.
Since it was supposed to rain all day the only thing really to do was to go ZORBING!!!! So a Zorb is a plastic ball, kind of like the balls you can put hamsters in to run around. The fill the inside with warm water and then send you down a curvy track, and the result is a crazy experience that I can hardly describe.
One second I was sliding backward and the next thing I know I suddenly am sliding what appears to be sideways, but you can't see anything as the ball is rotating around you! Luckily we got a video of the experience so I can share it with you!!
The video is basically Beth and I screaming the whole time…Sorry in advance :)
