Today is Christmas. What a wonderful place to be. NEW ZEALAND! It is beautiful. Our tour guide dressed like Santa Claus for most of the day. it was the best thing ever! He is so wonderful, we totally lucked out with the best tour guide ever :)
Today was more tame than the other days so far, which is great because it is Christmas. Breakfast was quick and on the bus we went. Our first stop was to go zorbing. This is where they put you in a bouncy ball full of warm water and push you down a hill.
The day was kind of cold, luckily Bryan shared is jacket with me while we waited around in our bathing suits to get into the ball. We were nervous to get wet but the water was so warm, it felt great!
Before we jumped into the bouncy ball we got a chance to get run over by the zorb...For some reason we all jumped at the chance and got in line. The zorb totally squashed me! I felt like a pancake. 
Once we were inside the ball, and the hole was closed off, it felt like a sauna. I tried to video tape the whole thing as we were going down the hill but it's really bouncy. It was way more fun than it looked. It was the perfect way to start Christmas, like an excited child.
Once we were inside the ball, and the hole was closed off, it felt like a sauna. I tried to video tape the whole thing as we were going down the hill but it's really bouncy. It was way more fun than it looked. It was the perfect way to start Christmas, like an excited child.This is us at the top of the hill. Ready to go!
Here are a couple videos...One is before and one is during.
Our second stop was a sheep shearing show. They have 40 million sheep in New Zealand and only 4 million people. We have 4 million people in LA. A man shaved a sheep in front of us in less than 5 minutes. I was very impressed. Some people were called on stage to milk a cow. Then Andrea and I were called on stage to have a goat milk drinking contest. We started to drink the milk and then we were told it was a joke! Then these baby lambs came out and we got to feed them with our milk bottles...That's what the milk was for! Then the sheep dogs were called out and we got a demonstration of how they round up the sheep without barking. Then the dogs started to jump on the sheep backs. They would jump from one sheep to another sheep without touching the ground. It was really funny!
Bryan is my favorite kind of sheep!
Bryan with a baby lamb. So freakin Cute!
After the show we went to the hotel bar and had some beers. It was a nice end to a wonderful Christmas day. We tried to play never had I ever but it was hard to get a good game going because everyone was a bit tired. Merry Christmas Everyone!!!
Our second stop was a sheep shearing show. They have 40 million sheep in New Zealand and only 4 million people. We have 4 million people in LA. A man shaved a sheep in front of us in less than 5 minutes. I was very impressed. Some people were called on stage to milk a cow. Then Andrea and I were called on stage to have a goat milk drinking contest. We started to drink the milk and then we were told it was a joke! Then these baby lambs came out and we got to feed them with our milk bottles...That's what the milk was for! Then the sheep dogs were called out and we got a demonstration of how they round up the sheep without barking. Then the dogs started to jump on the sheep backs. They would jump from one sheep to another sheep without touching the ground. It was really funny!
Bryan is my favorite kind of sheep!Bryan and I with a sheep.
Bryan with a baby lamb. So freakin Cute!Then we went off to the sky gondola and lough track. When we were at the top the view of the Rotorua Lake was so beautiful. We had lunch and then prepared to lough down the hill side. We got to go twice, the first one was the scenic route. Andrea and I were trying to take pictures but it was really difficult because we were going so fast. It was such a beautiful ride down the mountain. The second trip down the hill we went down the advanced route. This had jumps and ramps so you could go up the side of the banks. this was the best route. Emmo went down the hill as Santa, which was a really funny sight!
The beautiful view!
Andrea and I trying to take pictures as we went down the mountain side...
Once we checked into the hotel in Rotorua we tried to find Internet so we could skype out families. Sadly, it would have cost around 50 bucks. Internet isn't the best in New Zealand. We went to the natural hot pools instead. Bryan taught Steve how to swim. I ended up going back to the hotel to take a nap. The trip had caught up with me and I was tired and grumpy that we couldn't skype our families on Christmas.
After the nap we got ready for a traditional Hungi celebration. A Hungi is like a Hawaiian Luau. It was wonderful. We had a gift exchange called "Irish Christmas." It's the same way we play "White Elephant," where you can steal. This was all the gifts.
These were the gifts I got from the exchange. Here is Bryan and I before the Hungi dinner.
Andrea and I wore Red and Green to represent Christmas. All the food was extremely yummy, the lamb was rather dry though. Throughout New Zealand we kept tasting lamb thinking it would be the best we would ever have...We never found good lamb, it was always dry.
Then the Mauri people did their show for us. They made all these funny faces that were suppose to be scary. I couldn't' stop laughing. it was so funny! Then all the men got up on stage to learn some dance moves. Notice Bryan's 'scary' face! Then the ladies got a chance to do the same. My 'scary' face wasn't that great either.
After the show we went to the hotel bar and had some beers. It was a nice end to a wonderful Christmas day. We tried to play never had I ever but it was hard to get a good game going because everyone was a bit tired. Merry Christmas Everyone!!!
1 comment:
Hey Sally, this is Ronnie. I'm so jealous of you guys. I want to go to NZ so bad! That looks so fun. Such an awesome place to be. Thanks for sharing. :)
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