Birthday boy

Hurry up, the birthday boy is on his way

Hurry up, the birthday boy is on his way

The next stop on my New Zealand adventure was Rotorua. I had been warned about the smell of rotten eggs because of the sulphur in the air so I was prepared for it when I got off the bus. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I couldn’t smell anything. It may have been that after a few hours on a rather warm and crowded bus that my nostrils had (thankfully) become desensitised. I set off from the bus stop to the place I was staying and soon spotted a sign for the Regent. I headed inside and to the reception desk. I said I had a booking for the night and gave them my name. They checked but couldn’t find my booking. As I rummaged through my bag for my itinerary I wondered whether my travels plans were going to come unstuck at the first stop. Having found the itinerary I opened it and flicked to the right page. I checked the date and the booking and told them I definitely had a booking for tonight at the Regent Hotel. It was at this point I was told that the Regent Hotel was next door and that I was in the Regent flashpackers hostel.

Suitably embarrassed I made my way next door to the rather swanky looking hotel and tried again.  Darryl, the manager of the place who had offered to host, was behind the reception desk. I introduced myself and we chatted while he checked me in. I explained in a bit of detail about my travels, unsure of how much detail David had gone into when finding me hosts. He asked me what job I had left to go travelling. I told him I used to be a forensic accountant and who I worked for. He told me he knew one of the partners there and told me her name. I had never worked with her but I had met her a few times so knew who she was. It was yet another example of how small the world really was.

Darryl showed me to my room and I dropped off my case. He asked me what my plans were for the evening and I told him that I could do with a walk to stretch my legs after the coach journey from Whitianga. He suggested a walking route round the edge of the lake and through town that would take in most of the main sights (and smells) of the area. I asked if he would be around later so that I could take him out for a drink to say thanks for hosting me. He told me that he should be finished work about 7pm. Back at reception I explained that I wanted to do something a little exciting the following morning for my birthday. Darryl picked out some leaflets for various things and made some suggestions, clearly knowledgeable about the local attractions. I decided to go for the white water rafting and Darryl said he would organise it for me.

My walk took me down to the lakeside where I got my first smell of Rotorua. It wasn’t horrendous and it didn’t take too long to get used to it. I picked up a trail along the lake, the walk taking me past some of the geothermic pools, where water bubbled away and the sulphur smell got a lot stronger. Steam rose from the ground in various places and signs warned you to stick to the path so as to avoid falling through the brittle crust of earth into a hot pool. I was going to try for a photo of Dean next to the hot pool but was worried he might fall in and melt. I continued on past the Rotorua Museum and through town, stopping to pick up something for dinner on my way back to my room. I asked at reception for Darryl but he had been called away to a meeting at late notice and had left his apologies. I told the receptionist to give me a ring if he got back in the next few hours.

The following morning I woke up and wished myself a happy birthday. I got myself ready for the rafting and headed to reception. Darryl was there and he wished me a happy birthday and apologised that he hadn’t been around the night before. We chatted for a while until the guy from Kaitiaki rafting arrived. He found me and explained that there was a problem with the gates that let the water out of the lake above the river we would be rafting down and that until it was sorted we would not be allowed rafting. He told me that he would be able to pick me up later provided everything was working again and apologised for the inconvenience. I decided to go get a light breakfast (I didn’t want to risk anything too heavy in case I threw up on the rafting). I returned to the hotel a while later, timed perfectly for the rafting people who had just arrived to collect me, the gate problem having been fixed. We picked up a few other people along the way and then drove out of Rotorua and up to the rafting place.

7 metre high Kaituna Waterfall

There were eight of us for rafting, three couples, an American guy, Adam, who was also travelling alone and me. Adam became my “partner” for the duration of the rafting as they put us into pairs, then grouped us in fours for the rafting. After our safety briefing we changed into some rather fetching wet suits, lifejackets and helmets before making our way to the start of the river. A traditional Maori prayer was said to the river before we set off and our guides took the time to explain the heritage and history of the local site. After a couple of practices of adopting the brace position on dry land we were off. The river seemed quite gentle and we paddled merrily along for a little while. We stopped just before the first rapids and small waterfall to make sure we all still knew the brace position and what to do if we fell out of the raft. Shortly after we were headed over the first waterfall, my heart rate picking up considerably. We all managed to stay in the raft, I forgot to close my mouth so ended up swallowing some of the river water. 

Having successfully navigated some more rapids we stopped again just at the top of the next drop, the7 metre high Kaituna waterfall. Our guide reminded us of the safety information and asked if anyone wanted to get out. Nobody did. We paddled up close to the drop, then adopted the brace position. It felt like we were going in slow motion as we crossed the top of the waterfall, the raft was vertical as we went down, hitting the water and plunging underneath. This time I kept my mouth closed and we eventually surfaced, the raft full of water. I can safely say that I had not done anything so exhilarating in a long time and it was a great way to start my birthday. I felt so alive. We finished the rest of the river with some more rapids and smaller waterfalls before heading back to the base to change out of the wetsuits and back in to dry clothes. To apologise for the inconvenience of the delayed start the rafting place gave me a picture disc with the photos of our rafting session which was really good of them. The bus dropped everyone back off and I collected my case from the Regent. On the way out I stopped to thank Darryl for everything, leaving him a bottle of wine so that he could at least have a drink on me. I headed on to my next destination, still in Rotorua, to continue my birthday celebrations.

“Hurry up, the birthday boy is on his way” 
Lyrics from The lady’s paying from the musical Sunset Boulevard