To Hell With It

Today has been a mixed-bag. Some highs, some lows, some oohs, some blahs.

I started my morning with a visit to Hell’s Gate for another geothermal trail, a mud bath, a dip in a sulphur spa, and a traditional mirimiri massage. This was a 3 hour outing (not counting driving time) and largely a waste of my time. The geothermal walk did have a cool waterfall but other than that the actual geothermal features paled in comparison the sites of Te Puia and Wai-o-Tapu. And it smelled awful, not just of sulfur like the other parks but like manure mixed in. Additionally, it was the coolest weather I’ve experienced so far in NZ and steady rain. I wouldn’t have minded except today I was wearing a regular cotton tank top instead of an athletic once so getting wet was not as fun. At the end of the little trail there was a carving station to try your hand at traditional wood carving techniques. They had different designs you could try your hand at and I chose a fern as it a symbol of nurture and I feel like his trip is a way to nurture myself and my soul. However, this is not my forte. The guy manning the station took pity on me and even carved a Kiwi for me so I had something worth keeping! After that it was off to the mud bath! I have never done a mud bath before and have always been skeptical but this was pretty awesome. It was a shallow spa with baskets of mud to rub all over yourself. The mud is supposed to heal muscle aches and pains, as well as overall rejuvenate the skin and cure common ailments. It was fun. I mean, how often as adults do we get to play with mud?! After that it was a quick dip in a sulfur spa (fyi – sulfur water STINGS when you get it in the eyes) and then off to my massage! The package came with a half hour massage but I upgraded to an hour and was all sorts of excited. Fail. It was one of the worst massages I have ever had. So lame, so boring, so did nothing for me. The masseuse, without warning me, tried to crack my back at one point, but didn’t do it right, and jacked up my right shoulder. I have had shooting pain in my right shoulder since. Hell’s Gate was very appropriately named apparently.

I left Hell’s Gate disappointed. And hungry. I have not done a good job making food finding a priority on this trip, I’d rather be out adventuring. I figured some food and a good hike around one of Rotorua’s 18 lakes would do me good. I started driving towards an area of lakes and came across a McDonalds. I have no shame, I drove through McDonalds in New Zealand. At this point I was STARVING and figured it was actually ideal as I could eat while driving and not waste time stopping to eat! I was quite proud of myself for navigating a drive-thru given the right-sided driver’s seat location in the car!

Cheeseburger in hand I headed off to Lake Tikitapu which has a 5.5 km hike around the lake. Perfect! I knew I wanted to do a couple other things and had to be at my Maori dinner at 4pm so the length was just right for the amount of time I had. I found the lake, loaded up my backpack, and set off! Only to discover that with the abnormal amount of recent rain the lake level was way higher than normal and the lake trail head was submerged and not accessible. Ok, fine, the next lake wasn’t far so off I went.

I arrived at Lake Rotokakahi and convinced myself that it would be even better since you could find hot springs and hot water pools there. I was a little annoyed that the longer drive to get there was cutting into my time but oh well. I parked my car, grabbed my pack, looked at the lake trail map and was ready to set off. There was a long trail to the west and a shorter trail to the east. And no guide to scale on the map to show long the trails were, I was hoping to get in at least 4-5 miles. I started trekking westward and within a couple hundred yards found that the trail was so muddy and flooded from the rains that it was not safely passable. Fine. I turned around and decided to try the east trail as it seemed to be on higher ground in that direction. I trekked back to and across the parking lot and merrily started east. I made it about 1/4 mile and that was it. That’s where the trail ended. Grr. By this time it was about 2pm and I knew my time to get anything done was dwindling quick.

I reluctantly gave up on hiking and decided to head to Kerosene Creek, a public access geothermal hot spring that had been recommended. It was, of course, over half an hour from where I was. Thankfully my AirBnB was on the way so I stopped in to change into a clean bikini. Knowing I had a 4pm commitment, I was nervous about the time and decided to throw my evening clothes in my bag to take with me. Just in case. I was also still covered in oils from my massage but figured a dip in a hot spring would help that situation as well.

I made my way to Kerosene Creek and it did not disappoint! After driving down a rough dirt road off of the highway there it was. A natural warm water little waterfall and hot spring to “bathe” in. I only had about half an hour there but it was worth it. Another gent was getting to the creek at the same time (we shall call him the hobbit, he kinda resembled one) and we joined three other people in the first bathing pool along the creek. What a trip. When I see running water and natural falls I thinks COLD. But it was like stepping into a nice warm bath tub. Amazing. And cool to be in such a melting pot of people. The hobbit was from Australia, the other gent in the spring from Mexico, one lady from Israel, and another from some crazy Russian sounding country that I couldn’t quite make out. This was exactly what I needed to help recover the day! I asked the hobbit if he wouldn’t mind snapping a picture of me with my phone and somehow he heard me ask if he wanted me to take a picture of him! Uh, really? He happily scrambled up to sit on the little fall and was excited that I had offered to AirDrop him a picture. Whatever, dude. I am only bitter because the pictures I did finally get him to snap of me came out awful. Thanks hobbit man.

I had a nice time unwinding in the warm water and talking with my new friends but then it was time to hit the road and I realized that it was a damn good thing I brought my evening clothes as there would NOT be time to get back to my AirBnB. One of my better purchases in preparation for this trip were quick dry portable towels. Soooo happy I had them! I was able to fully dry off and change for dinner in the backseat of my car. And I’m pretty sure I even managed to do so modestly without giving passerbys a peak of my bare ass or boobs! Damn I’m good. And FYI – I have confirmed that the apple watch really does do ok when you wear it in the water!

Next on my agenda was a Maori culture experience at Tamaki Village. The Maori are the only indigenous inhabitants of New Zealand and have been here since 1350 AD. Upon arriving to the meeting point you are assigned to a “tribe” and whisked away in a bus to the recreated Tamaki Village. I was assigned the Tui tribe. Each tribe road together in the bus and stayed together during the outing. While on the way, each bus had to pick a “Chief” who would be responsible for the greeting ceremony upon arrival. The chief was required to be male. Really?! Fine. None of the men were scrambling to volunteer, I would have, but nooooo, i’m a woman. Hmph. The driver finally assigned the Chief role to an older gentleman from England.

Throughout the entire evening it was hilarious watching our Chief take his job very seriously as he participated in all activities and led his tribe between features. The Maori experience includes a traditional welcoming ceremony, educational stations (history, dance, games, battle prep), a cultural show, and a traditional Hangi dinner. At the first station, the presenter started asking everyone where they were from. The woman standing next to me said California! I turned to her and engaged. Turns out we both were born and raised in Orange and she’s now based in LA. And she was also alone. We immediately gravitated to one another and were both glad to have a companion. Turns out we had actually both been in the Hell’s Gate mud baths at the same time, about 20′ from each other and didn’t even know it! I may have even agreed to join her on a class 5 rafting expedition in a couple days!

I love learning about other cultures and indigenous customs and greatly enjoyed learning about the Maori. The traditional Maori greeting includes grasping each other’s right hands, touching noses twice while taking a breath, and then saying “kia ora” in unison. The purpose of the breaths is to share the gift of life with each other.

I have to admit, I was feeling a little bitter about the Maori treatment of women when they said that women weren’t allowed to take the Chief role and that they weren’t allowed to sit in the front row. However, as usually happens once you learn about a culture, it actually turns out to be a rather nurturing stance then sexist. Some prime examples… the Maori tradition is to tattoo your face with tribal lines indicating your lineage (way back before the tattooing they actually used scarring procedures). Men cover their chin, cheeks, and nose with these lineage lines, while the women only the chin. The reason? Women (well, as a rule but not this one) have to endure childbirth which is suffering enough so they want to limit the amount of pain they have to tolerate in the rest of their lives. Along those lines, when a Maori woman goes into labor with her first child, tradition would have her spouse sitting down to be tattooed from the belly button down. The tattooing lasts as long as the wife is in labor, as the man’s way of sympathizing with the pain his wife is in by enduring his own pain. And why no women in the front row? Women are the ones with the power to bring life into the world so they must be protected to protect lineage by being shielded. It’s so fascinating to be given the chance to understand other cultures and customs.

At the conclusion of the Maori event we are bused back into town, where the bus driver led us in songs from different countries. This involved singing “Wheels on the Bus” where he really did start honking the horn (and which totally explains to me why I thought a bus was randomly honking at me yesterday!) as well as “She’ll be Coming Round the Mountain” where the driver continuously circled a roundabout until the song was over. So funny and so fun.

There was still a tad bit of daylight left upon arriving back so I concluded my evening with a couple miles wondering around the Government Gardens and Lake Rotorua. I continue to be shocked at the geothermal activity everywhere and how accessible it is.

A few things, other than my towels, that I geared up with for this trip and have been grateful for include new prana shorts, my hiking shoes, meal bars, and portable laundry detergent. I picked up a couple new pairs of prana shorts and they are the best shorts ever, I kind of never want to wear anything else ever again. Super comfortable, quick drying, the perfect amount of pockets, and the perfect sized pockets – I don’t think its a coincidence that the main front pockets hold an iPhone safely with perfection – this is huge when that is your main camera source! And the shoes, having draw-string style shoelaces is awesome because, quite simply, your shoes stay tied 100% of the time! I have found my meal bars to be a life saver as well. New Zealand is not necessarily known as a culinary powerhouse and being able to grab one in the morning (along with fresh fruit and pressed juice I picked up when I arrived) instead of having to deal with finding breakfast saves so much time (and some money too)! And lastly, the super cool dissolving laundry wash things. They come in a contained smaller than tic-tacs and are individual “sheets” you dissolve in water and use as laundry wash! These were AWESOME to have today in order to wash my mud bath bikini and my hot springs bikini and towels.

Tomorrow I leave my stay in Rotorua and head to Taupo for the night. I have no idea what I’m going to do tomorrow except drive that direction. Guess I better come up with a game plan for the morning! I also still need to figure out accommodations for one of my nights.. hmm.

Lastly – thank you so much to everyone who is reading my blog and for all of your comments. I mainly decided to write as a way to forcing myself to journal and capture my memories and it means a ton to me that friends are actually reading this. Your comments and likes mean a lot to a girl traveling alone.