Surfing, Sheep, Southward

Waking up in Raglan to a rapping on the side of the van, we were accosted early in the morning by what we later thought was a By-law officer. At the time we were too sleepy to ask exactly what position he held. He told us that we were on private property and that the farmer had complained and, while he wouldn't ticket us, we would have to leave immediately. We had parked in a cul-de-sac down a street that didn't have any houses on it, but apparently a farmer was developing a section of his land - and "had his guts full" with tourists parking on his property. Yawning, we made the short drive down to the beach and grabbed our boards for our second attempt at surfing in NZ. Unsurprisingly, the water was just as cold as it has been at Piha and we walked out of the surf after just an hour, seriously considering wetsuits. We actually picked some wetsuits up later in the day - last year's models, so that along with the strength of the Canadian dollar made them a pretty good deal. So excited after buying the suits, we went right back into the water, but a storm was rolling in and the waves weren't as good as they had been in the morning. Still, the suits worked perfectly, though Jordache complained he was too warm. Better than hypothermia I always say.

In the afternoon we headed out of Raglan and got into Rotorua where we parked just outside the city. The next day we got up and headed to the Zorb hill. A Zorb, for those of you have better things to do then waste time on YouTube, is a large clear ball, approximately twelve feet high with another smaller ball suspended by bands inside the first sphere. Basically a human-sized hamster ball. Climbing through the side and into the centre sphere, one to three riders attempt to maintain their balance as the Zorb rolls down a hill. You can elect for an unsecured ride with about 5 gallons of water to make sure you don't stick to the sides, or you can have yourself strapped in securely and maintain one position - basically one somersault after another. Jordache and I each took a solo ride in the unsecured Zorb, careening down a zig-zag track, running inside the Zorb, falling, and then diving forward to lend the Zorb more momentum. As one onlooker said, it is definitely not a spectator sport, but quite fun for the rider. I asked one of the operators how much a Zorb cost, with visions of putting a track together in Canada, but when he said it cost about 13,000 bucks I decided it just might not be worth it.

After zorbing Jordache and I went over to the luge track just down the road, taking a gondola up the mountain just outside of Rotorua and then racing each other down on concrete tracks. The track is four carts wide at some points, and by our last ride we were speeding down the runs, cutting in and around the slower learners as we bumped and cut one another off. The three-wheeled carts probably aren't made for it, but on many corners we were up on two wheels, leaning way over to counter-balance ourselves, and once I over-balanced, rubbing my ankle raw and rocking back upright as Jordache sped by laughing his head off.

Just outside of Rotorua is a camp site called Waikite Springs, and along with your camp rights comes full access to the natural hot springs. We soaked there last night, and then climbed into our van to sleep. The nights are significantly colder here in NZ, and my +3 sleeping bag isn't really doing the job. Even Jordache in his -7 bag is finding it uncomfortably cold at nights. I had another poor night's sleep and woke up this morning at 5:30. After almost an hour of attempting to convince myself that I was sleepy enough to fall back asleep, I unfolded myself out of the van and went into the pools. There are a number of them, each with a different temperature, and I made my way to the warmest one, about 42 C, where I quickly warmed up and waited for Jordache to wake up.

After having breakfast, we headed back into Rotorua for the world-famous Agrodome sheep show where we made it just in time to catch a shearing demonstration. The presentation was well-polished, as expected when there are three shows a day seven days a week, and it was very well worth it. We stayed around afterwards, looking at the filthy expensive merchandise and then leaning on a fence outside as a sheepherder (staff and all) worked a trio of sheep through a series of gates and into a pen with his dog. An interesting thing to us that we learned at the Agrodome is that New Zealanders have begun incorporating possum hair with wool to create a new blend of natural fabric - a good use for the non-native possums as there are over 80 million of them in the country and each of them a much-hated pest. Their carcasses litter the roads, and I've even squished one myself. They are nocturnal, and in some night driving last week one froze in front of me with its saucer-wide eyes staring up in shock as the grille of the van bore down on it. Just doing my bit to get rid of those invasive species again.

Writing this in Taupo now, we are getting back on the road and aiming to get into Wellington tonight. I have some visa applications I need processed for countries coming up, and then we are catching the ferry to the south island where we will have approximately another three weeks.