Smell Ya Later, Rotorua.

Today was my first trip to Rotorua, an exciting geo-thermal city not too far from where we live. Brenno and Mel came down for the weekend and so we decided to do a day trip to see what we could see.

It.Was.Awesome.

Rotorua, as perviously mentioned, is a major geo-thermal activity area in New Zealand. Therefore, it smells. Like rotten eggs (sulphur). There are times when the smell is quite overwhelming. However, even though Rotorua stinks, it has redeeming qualities.

The Redwood Grove.This was our first stop. The redwoods are not native to NZ, but were introduced from California. There is a great forest area with some neat treks. We walked for about an hour through the giant trees. It felt very "Lord of the Rings". Mark sang some Elvin songs (a.k.a. Enya).

Then we found the information site where I informed the employee that we would like to see some "bubbling mud" - preferably for free. Because while bubbling mud is very cool, it seems like a ridiculous thing to pay to see. He directed us towards a park in town where we were indeed able to find some free bubbling mud. It was awesome and smelly.

Last, but by no means least, we took in the famous Rotorua Luge. To help you visualize, picture that big slide/sled type thing that the kids went down at the end of Sesame Street back in the day. Some genius came with up the idea to build that kind of a track down the hillside and charge people to ride. It is so fun and I highly recommend forking over the $35 for three rides. Mark bravely captured some photos and video and has a scraped knee to show for it as it's quite tricky to steer with one hand (to view a video, go to my facebook page).

All in all, a great first visit to the adventurous town of Rotorua. We plan to go back with the family at Christmas time. And yes, Mom, you are going down the luge!