After our tramp up to Cooks Cove, we have had a pretty tranquil couple of weeks. School is good and the weather has been pretty nice. The tennis schedule is totally figured out and I’m signing up for the NZ version of out door week, which happens to be a week of skiing!

Now lets talk about our trip to Rotorua. The drive up there was not that bad, it was a 4-hour roadie (that’s what they say here instead of road trip). We went with our old baby sitter/ great friend Anaëlle from France and her fiancé Julien. Juju (Irwin) was a bit confused when there was another Julien in the house, but then got used to it.

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When we got to Rotorua, we were taken by total surprise because of the awful smell of the town. We later found out that it was the geysers that stunk so badly because of all the sulfur in them. And it was weird because everything else about the place was amazing: the coves surrounding the town, the market places (especially for Mom and Anaëlle, the rare Starbucks). But I guess all that Rotorua is missing was some super Febreze. Here is a picture and a video of a geyser.

We stayed the night at an Air B and B at a nice suburban house which had lots of cool things like chickens, ducks, a stream full of trout that Dad would have emptied if given the time, and toys for Julien because of the owners’ grandchildren. We also went to fun adventure park that had a thing called the Luge. This was pretty much riding a go-kart down a mountain. It was SO awesome! There was a concrete path that winded down the mountain with no protection rails on the sides, so it was up to you to steer the right way. Also there were no speed limits except the occasional slow down sign that nobody really slowed down for.

Another thing that they had there was this incredible Swing Roller Coaster that we went on. At first I was the only one that wanted to go on it, and for good reason. The ride rose up to 50 meters tall and swung down, dropping at crazy speeds and then coming back backwards. But the craziest part was that when you got to the top, it was you that had to pull a cord that dropped you. Unfortunately, when I pulled the cord, it didn’t work the first time (as you can see in the video)! I asked the man afterwards and he told me that there had been a lot of instances in which people couldn’t make themselves pull the cord because they were too scared. In the end I convinced Dad and Julien (Fiancé) to go on with me. Here are some photos and a video of the crazy ride.

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All in all, Rotorua was awesome, and the 8 hour round trip roadie was totally worth it!

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Lucas

Hi, I'm Lucas. I am 12 years old and for the majority of my life I have only lived in 1 place: Washington D.C. I'm about to move to the other side of the world and I am excited to share my adventures with all of you.

Latest posts by Lucas (see all)

• She’ll be right - July 8, 2019
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