Geysers, Sheep, and Zorbs, OH MY

I thought yesterday was busy, but today the schedule is packed.
We started with a hotel breakfast, but it was much fancier than any hotel breakfast I've had. It was intense.

Sitting in the volcano that is Rotorua

Then we headed to Te Puia to see the Pohutu Geyser. We headed down to see it erupt but were too early. We waited around anyways, then headed to sit on some thermal rocks. We were literally sitting inside a volcano. We're just that cool.

Pohutu erupting

After waiting for a little bit without it erupting, we went to check out the bubbling boiling mud pools. They were really cool! I took a time-lapse video (I still don't even really know what that means, but it's one of the video settings on my iPhone) and it was so cool and I really wanted to post it on Instagram, but it was only two seconds and Instagram videos have to be at least 3 seconds, so I'll just let ya'll watch it instead. I'll post it at the bottom of this post, due to the overwhelming amount of pictures crowding this little area.
The geyser still wasn't erupting, so we went to the kiwi house to look at some kiwi birds. The room was set up like the one in Queenstown, where it's really dark with a little red light so the kiwis think it's night time and will be awake for those who can see them.
Once everyone saw the kiwis, we went back down to the geyser because it was finally erupting! We missed the initial big explosion while we were in the kiwi house but it was still going strong.
We watched it for a little bit before we headed up to the Maori meeting house to see the welcoming ceremony and explore the little house next to it.
To get into the house, you have to go under it and there's a little opening that you climb up in. We didn't climb all the way in but we did pop our heads in. Some people said it reminded them of a chicken coop but I don't think so.
After this lovely picture to the right my camera decided it didn't want to live anymore. In all honesty, I decided that a while ago but I had been tricking it into staying alive for me. I wasn't gonna let it die this time either, so I licked the batteries a couple times and it let me finish my tour of Te Puia. What an obedient camera.

carvers working on a
smaller project 

Our guided tour then took us to the school aspect of Te Puia. Here, Maori students learn carving and weaving with different materials and become skilled enough to go back to their home villages and teach the people of their village. Currently, the carvers are working on a giant statue to commemorate the ANZAC battles in WWII and it will be sent to Turkey, where they fought most of their battles.
We also learned about how they get the fiber from the flax plant and then weave that into the various clothing items. I thought I got a picture of that as well, but apparently my camera wasn't being as obedient as I thought....

Sheep Sheering

After watching the carvers and weavers for a little bit, we headed to the gift shop where I bought some new batteries and finally gave my camera new life that should, hopefully, last me the rest of my time here, with a little trickery, of course.

Sheeps = steps to the dogs

Then we headed back on the bus and went to the Agrodome farm. We got there just in time to see the sheep sheering! Allison, Libby, and I made it to the front row so we had great seats. The sheep was very much jittery, so I think I'll just have to leave the sheep sheering to the professionals. Hope my grandmother understands and let's me come back to the states because otherwise my visa is gonna expire and I'll be deported back anyways.

Libby milking the cow

We also saw sheep dogs come do their thing, which includes running over the sheep like they're steps. The other type of sheep dog showed it's skill by herding some duck around (because the sheep are all tied up).
Then they called for volunteers, and Libby and Allison both got picked.
Libby got picked first. She was chosen to milk a cow! She was pretty good at it and got a certificate at the end.

Girl in yellow drinking the milk

Then Allison got chosen to come on stage with a bunch of little kids. At first, the guy told them they were going to have a milk drinking contest, which would've been super easy for Allison because she drinks a lot of milk. But this milk came in a weird bottle and was warm, so she was all like "really? You want me to drink this?" but while she was questioning the guy, one of the little girls already drank half the bottle she was given! And her mother was helping her! The competition hadn't even started yet. But then the guy counted down from three and a bunch of lambs ran out because the milk was for them! The lambs were having the drinking contest, not the kids and Allison!

Allison feeding the lamb

After the show, we all got to go on the stage to hug the sheep and pet the dogs, as you can see by the opening image of this post. And yes, of course I also petted the dogs, but this post is seriously cluttered in pictures, so I'll spare you.
Then we got to head to the petting area where we could hug the lambs. I wanted to pick one up but I also didn't want to get in trouble, so I didn't. I'll just go to Helen's and ask if I can hold one of her lambs when I get back to the States if I want to haha. They also had rabbits and ducks, but I spent my time with the calf because I love cows. They're so cute. They remind me of my Pal.

the cow and i 

This cow was not very photogenic though. How sad. I tried anyways.
After we washed up in the bathrooms, we went to the gift shop where a leather coat with wool on the inside was over $3000. Like that's insane.
Then we headed to a little farmhouse for STEAK LUNCH. Steak and the best cheesecake I've ever had. Oh my goodness it was amazing. And the bread was also really good. Aw man it was so good.
We then got back on the bus. Next stop - ZORBING.

hot tub between zorb rides

So Zorbing is when you're in this giant plastic ball and you're just rolling. You're just chillin in the ball and it's rolling. So we did hydro zorbing which means that they put water in the ball with us. It was so much fun! We only got one ride provided for us, so I went on the "drop" because on the mild to wild scale it was the wild and go big or go home. It was so much fun that I bought a second ride and did the zig zag washing machine ride, which was a little more intense. In the drop I was just chillin but in the zigzag I completely flipped and got a bunch of water in my lungs but I survived. But I feel like the drop one was longer so I liked that one better because it was longer. Also I was lucky I was one of the first ones to go because otherwise I wouldn't get to go again because we ran out of time. But there was also a hot tub there so between my rides I got to chill in the hot tub.
A video of my zorbing has been posted on my Facebook; you can view it there.

New Zealand possum

Opossum, via Google

So we ran out of
time because we needed to go to Rainbow Springs. At Rainbow Springs, we got a more in depth kiwi experience tour. Honestly, I'm getting kind of sick of kiwis. They really love those birds here. Anyways, at Rainbow Springs they bred and release them so we got a tour of how they do that and such. I was getting tired and annoyed of kiwis so I wasn't into it much, but I did find it interesting that their possums are like legit furry mammals. The guide was all like "not like your rodent like possums in the States", but I think that's just a misconception because what we often call possums are really opossums. One time my mother and I saw one on the road when we were coming home and we were making fun of it because it was acting like a druggie so we were saying how the opossum was on opium (I seriously love my alliteration) and I will forever remember that so yeah. Our possums are probably like the kind they have here, but when we think of possums we are really thinking of opossums. At least that's what I think is happening in this situation.
Coming out of the kiwi exhibit, there was a kiwi statue. So of course I just had to climb it. I asked the guide first and he said I could. It took a lot to get up there. I couldn't have done it without Tim! So shoutout and thank you to Tim. Also thank you to Celeste for always being there to take my picture.

debating and attempting to climb it

Tim helps me get up

Finally on it! 

So apparently then we were supposed to get a guided tour of the Rainbow Springs because they "feed both streams and pools teeming with thousands of Rainbow, Brook and Brown trout. The springs are surrounded by one of the largest collections of native ferns and trees. Many native birds and some endangered birds including the kiwi are on display", but our guide just like left us so we got no guided tour. Instead, we went to the Big Splash ride which was supposed to be like Splash Mountain. 

Those of you that know me know I cry on Splash Mountain. It is not my friend. But hey, neither were sky cable cars or ski lifts and I've learned to survive them, so I figured it was time to survive this also. So we waited in line for what felt like forever and finally boarded this ride that was made for little babies. It didn't have any inclines, which was lovely. Instead it used elevators to go up however much it needed, which was great because I had no idea how much that was.
It was literally like a lazy river but in a boat instead of a float. The scariest part was a tree almost fell on us (but it was part of the ride so of course it just missed us). Then we went down the little hill that was like actually a smaller drop than my Eckerd college bed to the floor was. So yeah. In pictures it looks like I'm finally good on rides similar to Splash Mountain. In actuality, I rode a baby ride and fooled my parents. But bet the picture will go on the wall next to my crybaby Splash Mountain pictures if I have to glue it there myself.
Oh also we made Maori Pukana faces in our picture. It's the traditional Maori face of intimidation. We're all doing the male version even though Celeste and I are girls, but my tongue is too long to keep in my mouth.
After our ride, we headed back to the hotel for a little free time before dinner. I was going to attempt to write some blog posts because I knew I had a lot to catch up on, but instead I just watched music videos on television because let's be real, that's what I do with my life. I was also really quite tired but couldn't fall asleep.
So then we went to dinner in the hotel, where we had breakfast. I thought breakfast was intense, man dinner was more so. They had literally everything. I ate so much that I couldn't even finish all my mussels :(

excited about the hot pools!

After dinner we had another quick rest before we went to the Polynesian Spa to relax in the all natural thermal mineral pools! They're literally spoiling us this trip, and it's probably because Kenny came, so I'm glad he's here haha.
There were many pools of varying color and temperature.
Many of them were very shallow. Because of this, my favorite was the green indoor pool because it was a full sized pool with regular depth. It also was the coolest, temperature-wise. They also had a cold shower part and I liked going from the hot pools to the cold shower back to the hot pools, like running from the pool to the hot tub in normal circumstances.
A bunch of us were chillin in the big green pool, discussing Australia, when Libby came up to us saying the Maori chief from the Mitai village was here. So we all went over to join him. We were probably a little annoying, but now he's our Facebook friend and messages us all the time so I guess we weren't that annoying.
He was in the hottest of the pools though so when we couldn't stand the heat any longer we joined the rest of the Loyola group in the pool overlooking Lake Rotorua for a few minutes until everyone decided to head back to the hotel. I could've stayed in the pools all night, but I didn't wanna be by myself so I went back with everyone and played on the wifi in Dani and Aissa's room (our room didn't have wifi).
Then I went back to my room, watched some more music videos, and went to sleep.

Until next time,

xoxo,

Tasha