and had ruled our sleeping in the nearest doorstep to keep warm out. We booked a hostel named Cactus Jacks...which I found to be quite humorous. Everything was western themed, from the bathroom looking like a bank from an old western. To our room looking like a jail house. Friday morning when we woke up, we headed into the park to look at all of the geothermal activity. It was so cool to just be walking down the street and have steam rising from the boiling water underneath us. We did a lot of walking Friday but also a lot of fun. We found a playground in the park, which was a ton of fun! We had ma
de plans to go zorbing but by the time we got around to getting on the bus, it was close to 5, which is when everything shuts down here, since it gets dark at 5:30. Back at the hostel, an American themed party was going on (I have no idea why?!?) and there was no way I was going to dress up...I am an American. There was a lady in a statue of liberty costume; a guy in a mullet wig, a cut-off shirt and shorts, and boots; two girls wearing nothing but red white and blue bikinis (keep in mind its freezing), a couple of new zealanders, and us...the Americans. We said we brought our accents to 
the party. Saturday was much more exciting. We woke up and had a van pick us up and take us to River Rats Whitewater Rafting and Kayaking Company. We had made plans to kayak Rotorua Lake. It was so fun and freezing cold. After that we got on the bus to go Zorbing...just in case you missed it, zorbing is the sport of rolling down a hill in a big plastic bubble inside of another plastic bubble. The outer layer is filled with water so that the inside bubble does not roll. These things are huge, big enough to fit four people inside. There is a wet option which they say is the only enjoyable way to go, you have water on the inside so that you are slipping and sliding around, but not flipping. The other option is to be strapped in a dry one while flipping with the bubble as it rolls down the hill. By the time we got there I was the only one willing to try it. When I saw those people rolling down the hill and come out at the bottom, they all looked like they were experiencing the 1st stages of hypothermia, with expression on their faces that said DON'T DO IT.. We took some pictures and we were out of there. That night we had a Maori Experience, where we go and watch some of the Maori customs and the Haka. (the Haka is a famous dance that Maori warriors do...the Auckland rugby team does the haka before every game to frighten their opponents. It is very intim
idating to watch and they are famous for being the best at it!) We also ate Hangi, which is basically meat and potatoes that is cooked underground. While sitting at dinner, there was a mother and her 3 children at our table
. There were two little girls and the youngest was the cutest red headed, blue eyed b
oy I've ever seen. We got to talking to them, and they happen to be doing the same tour we were doing after our Maori experience. We were doing a Kiwi tour, where we got to see the Kiwi birds. I walked around with the two little girls the entire time. They were halarious, and little girls with New Zealand accents are so cute, because they sound s
o sophisticated. Liani and Shawna were their names they kept me entertained the entire time!!
The next morning I wasn't feeling so well from being in the cold the entire previous day.
We went luging Sunday morning which was fun but it got me even more sick...I kno
w it was because we were going down a mountain on a luge with the win
d whipping in our faces and while breathing freezing cold air. The luging was a lot of fun, and I happen to see the same little girls from the night before there. They were a lot of fun and they wanted to ride with me, but there comes a point when the mom probably thought I was such a creeper, always hanging out with 9, 6, and 4 year olds...haha. We had to wait for the bus for nearly an hour, so we had 10 minutes to make it to the bus once we got back to town. We had to sprint to the bus terminal which was no
t helping my asthmatic situation. We finally got back to Auckland at 8 and I went straight to bed!
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