Coasterz 'n' Canyonz

Skyline Rotorua | Zorb Rotorua

Coasterz 'n' Canyonz Blog Day 11

Big Balls, Big Hills, Big Weather!!! A Walk in the Park

Relocating to Rotorua yesterday evening, we started the day with a walk in the park next to the hotel to see the hot mud springs.

Rotorua Springs 
Rotorua Springs 
Rotorua Springs 
IanIan's not too impressed with this activity!
Next - Zorbing

It had to be done in the birth-place of Zorbing, even though we had done it before. Adrian sat this one out, whilst Ian tried the 2 Hydro zorbs (Zig Zag and "The Drop") - basically, loose inside the ball with a bucket of water or two to keep you comfortable, and one "dry" zorb - The "Fast Lane"!. Weather was turning a bit nasty, but it didn't matter for this activity.

Zorb RotoruaDry "Fast lane"
Zorb RotoruaWet "Zig Zag" ("The drop" is behind the trees on the left)
Zorb RotoruaIan exiting one of the wet drops.
Zorb Rotorua 

Next, a quick bounce down the road, to Skyline Rotorua.

A nice activity centre with a gondola lift up to the top of the hill overlooking the town, lake and surrounding scenery.

Skyline Rotorua 
Motion MasterOne of the activities at the top was this unusual motion master 4D type cinema, except rather than the seats moving in motion to the film, the whole cinema moved!!!
Motion Master 
SkyswingNext up was "Skyswing" - similar to a SkyCoaster but with a proper seat, rather than a harness.
Skyswing 
Skyswing 
Skyswing 
Skyswing 
Skyline RotoruaAs the day went on, the weather got worse. Didn't matter too much except........
Rotorua Luge......... the main reason for visiting - the infamous Luge tracks.

Basically, you sit on a tea-tray, with a handle that steer's and brakes - well that's the theory. Give the track heavy rainfall and the braking effectiveness of handle reduces very significantly.

Rotorua LugeWith tight bends, a wet track and next to no brakes, the downhill tracks became very scary (read thrilling!).

There are 3 tracks to work your way through, a scenic luge (to practice the cart driving), intermediate luge and advanced luge. In the wet, the intermediate became the advanced, and the advanced became the "Oh Sh*t" luge.

Rotorua LugeNobody warned us about the size of the critters in New Zealand
Rotorua Luge 
Rotorua Luge 
Rotorua Luge"Is this where they filmed Jurassic Park?"
Rotorua Luge 
Rotorua LugeAdrian discovering the brakes don't work in the wet!
Skyline RotoruaView from the top of the gondola.
Adrian & IanRotorua

Stormy SkiesOn the way to our next hotel there was a storm brewing.....
Taupo TornadoAnd then, something we never planned on our itinerary....
Taupo TornadoStorm Chasing!!!! Yes, we finally got to see a tornado - just as we pulled into tonight's hotel, this classic rope tornado dropped about 2 miles north of us. Needless to say, Ian is still recovering.

Until tomorrow.....