Hey Hot Stuff ;)

This weekend, I took Friday off to head North again with two of my new flat mates! We drove the 6 hours to Rotorua Thursday night and checked into our Backpacker around 1am, just in time to crash.

Rotorua is a well-known hotbed of geothermal activity in New Zealand, which became evident the moment we breached the city limits. The lovely scent of Sulphur sat heavy in the air, sinking deeply into our clothes.

Not really a fan.

But you go nose-blind pretty quick.

The first morning, we got up around 8:30 and made our obligatory stop at a local café before heading to the Whakarewarewa Forest (I can absolutely pronounce that irl). Ironically, this lush forest is known for its host of massive California Redwoods, the majesty of which I have yet to behold in my own country. We hiked the trails with our necks craned, marvelling at the thick trunks reaching high into the sky, interspersed with New Zealand fern trees and other native plants.

After our trek through the forest, we drove over to the Blue Lake (Lake Tikitapu), a crystal-clear body of water perfect for picnics and swimming.

You can guess what we did there.

We finally wore ourselves out with the hiking and swimming, so we headed to our final destination of the day: Hell’s Gate.

It’s not nearly as sinister as it sounds.

Hell’s Gate is a geothermal spa in Rotorua, which served as the perfect place to unwind after an active day. We purchased the Soothe Experience, and soothe we did. Starting with 20 minutes in the natural mud baths, we lathered the clump grey mud all over our shoulders, back and faces and let the natural minerals do what they do as we soaked in the hot pool.

What they do, I’m honestly not sure, but it certainly felt nice.

After the clay had sufficiently dried on our skin, we rinsed and left the baths, so as not to clog our pores to the point where our bodies could no longer regulate our internal temperature, and we inevitably overheated and died.

At least, that’s what we were told would happen.

We then entered the thermal pools, where we soaked for the next couple hours. Our soaking was broken up by regular trips to the cold plunge pool to avoid overheating and, honestly, to keep from falling asleep.

It wasn’t until our skin was smooth as silk, bodies near sleep mode, and bathers sufficiently Sulphur-scented, that we left the pools and rinsed off in fresh water, ready to cap of our day with dinner, drinks and a bed.

The next morning, we rode the skyline gondola up to the top of a hill, where our next adventure awaited.

THE LUGE.

If you are like me and have never heard of this activity before, it is essentially go-carts, but operated solely on gravity and following winding tracks down a mountain with beautifully scenic views. There are only 7 locations in the world, and our lovely

Rotorua just happened to be one of them! We purchased 3 rides and took each of the scenic, intermediate and advanced routes. Each ride took about 3 minutes to get down to the bottom of the track, where we then took a ski lift back to the top. I will be honest- I crashed several times on my first ride down- but if you are not going as fast as you possibly can at all times, are you even really luging?

After that adventure, my two flat mates then planned to head up to Coromandel, which I had already gotten to experience, so I hung out in Rotorua to avoid gas and car expenses for the day. In the mist of rain that had begun to set in, I visited Kuirau Thermal Park and walked around the bubbling and steaming thermal lakes, finishing with a soak of my feet in the free public thermal pools.

I then decided to walk to the nearest trail head to fill the rest of the day with a hike. This plan took me on a 45-minute walk out of the city back to a section of the Whakarewarewa Forest. Fortunately, the walk itself was lovely, following a series of trails that took me through valleys of geothermal activity and wooded areas.

From there, I did the 7k Quarry Track through a section of beautiful, mossy forest that seemed to be straight out of a fairytale book and peaked at a beautiful lookout of the town and forest below. By this point, A steady drizzle of rain had settled over Rotorua, making the hike even more perfect. The mist brought even more life and color to the already vibrantly green trail, and provided much needed refreshment from the heat. After my hike, I headed back into the city to grab dinner, finishing my day with a total of 34,119 steps and 15.6 miles.

A new record, for sure.

Back at my hostel, I made some friends from Australia and Canada and spent the night out with them, before my flat mates scooped me up Sunday morning.

From there we headed south, back towards Wellington, but we had one more stop to make.

Tongoriro National Park- home to Mt. Doom.

We did not have time to do the famous 19k Tongoriro Crossing, so we settled for an in-and-out track to Soda Springs along the Crossing trail, 9k in total. We followed the track up through hills of mossy greenery, bubbling streams and endless fields of lava rock.

The views were stunning.

Pictures just don’t do it justice.

To make the hike even more enchanting, we arrived in time to witness the fields of blooming Lupin flowers, which will be gone by the end of February. The vibrant purple bunches, resembling lavender, blanketed the base of the mountain and gave the scenery an ethereal feel. I felt like I was in a movie.

Perhaps Lord of the Rings?

We finished our drive, reaching Wellington around 8:00, and promptly began the process of soaking the Sulphur scent out of all our clothes, while we recovered at our go-to local bar.

It was another successful weekend of bucket list adventures and experiences, and if the cost is a Sulphur-scented flat, so be it.