I was lucky enough to visit Pure Dirt Tours, offering Motorcycling off road. It doesn't matter if you would like to try dirt biking for the first time or are already an expert looking for a multiday adventure. You don’t even have to have a license since the tours are all off road. They have a huge range of different bikes, equipment and trails, so there will be definitely something for you as well.

I arrived and was cordially welcomed by Merv and his cute dog. He asked my abilities concerning motor biking. I told him I had no experience at all, but he told me I shouldn't worry. He gave me pants, boots, a shirt, a helmet, a corselet and gloves to put on. I already felt really professional wearing this outfit even though I hadn't even touched a bike yet. He gave me a little red motor bike and started explaining how the motor bike works. I am so glad I already have a driver’s license because it was so much easier to understand what I needed the clutch for and that I have to pull the clutch and the break at the same time to stop.

I sat down on the bike and Merv showed me how to start the engine. After a couple times of killing the motor I finally moved forward. I followed Merv through the training park and immediately loved sitting on the bike, feeling and controlling the speed. I learned how to change gears and how to behave in turns. Merv committed himself really well to my problems and questions.

After practicing I felt comfortable with going onto a little tour up the mountain. I followed Merv up the hill and even though I was already wearing my sunglasses, the dust he dispersed made my eyes tear. It was so much more fun to drive up and down, through the meadows and the dirt than to drive around in a circle at the training park.

Merv was really considerate, waited for me but also showed me some jumps. I agreed to going on a short bushtrack. It was amazing, even though a got stuck in the mud a couple times. The bikes are definitely heavier than they look like. Fortunately, I got a strong man with me who helped me pulling it out of the dirt. I was so happy and proud when we arrived back at the training park. I was complimented on my first dirt biking and actually didn't want to stop. I can totally understand why Merv is so passionate about it. You can enjoy the nature in a really thrilling and fun way.

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I walked towards the bus which was supposed to take me to Tamaki Village.  The friendly atmosphere made me smile, and I sat down. Our bus driver was motivated and made us interact with him. We learned a lot of Maori words and about what we have to expect in Tamaki village, a Maori village. Since no one volunteered as a chief of our tribe, the Kea bus, our bus driver picked one from the list. It was a guy from London who then had the special task to represent us at the welcome ceremony and to lead us around the village. At the village, we all stood in a circle and watched the Maori welcoming us by dancing and doing the Hongi. After our chief had expressed that we were coming in peace everyone followed him into the village. We were welcomed by Maori men showing the men from our group how to dance the haka. It was great fun to watch.

The next stop was for women only. Two Maori women presented us the Poi which simply means ball. For over a thousand years Maori women have danced the Maori Poi, dance with balls attached to strings, swung rhythmically to keep their hands flexible for weaving. The women taught the visitors a little performance. Afterwards, they invited us to take pictures with them.

I loved the atmosphere in the forest, some bonfires burning and filling the air with its unique smell. I took part in a stick game, where four people stand in a square, holding sticks in their hands. Depending on the direction announced you either have to run right or left to catch the stick which the player next to you drops. Whoever runs into the wrong direction or doesn’t catch the stick loses. The last person with a stick wins. Due to my speed and listening skills, I made it, yeah. Even if I was the only woman taking part.

On our way through the village, we furthermore passed a weaving station and a place to test the speed and skill of your feet.

Last but not least our chief led us into a little arena in which we learned about our dinner, the Hangi. The potatoes, the lamb and the chicken were cooked in the steam coming from the geothermal activity around Rotorua. We saw how it was taken out of the ground and my mouth started watering.

However, we couldn’t start eating right away. We first went into the Maori meeting house were we watched songs, dances, such as the Haka and a short movie telling us about how the Maori culture changed when the English came to New Zealand. Not only did they bring useful things, such as new food and sailing boats but they also brought dangerous weapons and diseases with them which killed a lot of non-resistant Maori.

After the show, it was time for the Hangi. Time to have a look at my ticket with my table number on it. 13. The huge dining room was completely full of people sitting on the tables which surrounded our dinner in the middle. One table after another went to the buffet which had a huge variety of fish, meat, salad and vegetables. As a vegetarian, you got a special plate with lasagna. Hot drinks and water were free, other drinks could be purchased at the bar. The atmosphere was lively and I was so full I couldn’t believe that the dessert was ready.

At the end of the dinner, a band was performing famous songs and made everyone sing along.

One of the guests, an elderly man turned 80 the very same night, so the band performed happy birthday in English and Maori for him. On top of that, he got a very delicious looking cake.

At about 9pm we got back to our bus which took us back to our accommodation. Like our bus driver had announced before every nationality in the bus had to sing a typical song of their country. I sang “Alle meine Entchen” even though I am not sure if that is typically German.

As a last surprise our bus driver took us around a roundabout, but not only once, no, he drove around it 6 times! I was so glad that no one had to throw up after the rich dinner.

When I was dropped off the bus driver said goodbye with a typical Maori Hongi and a typical German “Auf Wiedersehen!” What a nice evening.

You can book your Tamaki Maori Village Experience with us at a discount.

I went to visit Te Puia - New Zealand Māori Arts & Crafts Institute surrounded by Te Whakarewarewa  Thermal Valley. I entered Te Puia through the gateway, passing five carved portals leading to the sacred Maori place. In them, you can already see the connection of Te Puia and carving. On the site you can visit the national carving school where young men not only learn how to carve but they also learn about Maori tradition and themselves. Before I visited the carving school myself I went to the lovely café right next to the entrance to get myself a coffee to warm up after the rafting. The café offered a wide range of pastries and snacks, as well. From the terrace, in front of the café I could see the beginning of the vast geothermal valley. I could even see the steam alluding to the Pohutu Geyser, which is able to erupt up to 30 meters high.

After my short coffee break, it was time to see the most famous bird of New Zealand, the kiwi. In a dark kiwi house which was opened in1976 the nocturnal animal can be seen walking around and being bigger than I expected. The Kiwi House started caring for injured kiwis and had a remarkable recovery rate. That is why a Kiwi breeding programme was set up 14 years ago. Moreover, I learned that one of the special features of the Kiwi is its good sense of smell.

Afterwards, I joined a Maori concert taking place at the sacred meeting house called Wharenui. It began with a traditional welcoming ceremony in which I first saw the typical greeting of Maori people. It is called the Hongi and means the pressing of one’s nose to another person’s nose.

The concert was multisided from love songs to the Haka, the war dance of the Maori which is supposed to scare the opponent. It is a mixture of gestures, shouts and foot stamping. Today it still can be seen at Rugby Games of the All Blacks.

At the concert there were no photo restrictions, in the end, the audience was even invited to take a personal picture with the performers. In general, the performers were all very hospitable, anxious, creating an atmosphere where no one could resist clapping their hands to the beat.

Apart from the Maori Concert, Te Puia offers several other Maori experiences. To mention one, which I would have loved to do, the Steam box, a tour over lunch time. The special thing about it is the possibility to choose your own lunch which will be cooked traditionally by using the steam and hot water which is naturally provided by the geothermal landscape. During the lunch is cooking you take part in an interactive guided tour, during which you not only visit the carving and weaving school but you got the chance to try the weaving yourself.

The tour goes through the Kiwi House, down into the valley, past mud pools and hot springs finishing with your own special lunch on the geyser terrace.

You can book your Te Puia Day Pass at a discount from our website.

After a short night, I got up and prepared myself with my bikini and a towel. Rafting was on my schedule. The shuttle picked me up and brought us to the headquarter of Kaitiaki, which means guardian in English. We were stuffed with wetsuits, shoes, jackets, helmets and of course life jackets.

Fully dressed we got on the shuttle which took us to the Kaituna River with the highest commercially rafted waterfall in the world. We were all looking forward to these seven meter high Tutea Falls. Before that we got a safety briefing and learned that if you fall out of the raft in the waterfall you have to make yourself a ball, if you fall out of the raft in the river, swim.

The men of our group carried the boats down to the river and we were split into two different groups. Each group had his own guide and together we pushed our raft into the river. The two girls of us were sitting at the front showing the rhythm which the two guys behind had to follow. Our guide sat at the end of the raft to give us orders and steer the raft to where it was supposed to be. The orders we were given were: Hold on, get down, paddle forwards and paddle backwards. Pretty easy to understand. It was so much fun to raft down the little falls, bump into the other boat, splashing each other and we could also swim in the river for a little while before we were pulled back into the boat. The most exciting part however was the seven meter falls. Before we rafted them our guide told us about the three possible endings of rafting down the falls. 1. We make it down there and have great fun. 2. The raft will turn upside down and we have to get back in afterwards. 3. Someone falls out of the raft and we have to pull him back in while he or she has to form a ball.

Luckily, I didn’t fall out of the raft completely. I was just hanging over the side of the raft so I was quickly pulled back in. It was so thrilling and fun that I would have loved to do it again. Unfortunately, we soon arrived at the end of the rafting track and had to carry our equipment back to the cars waiting for us to get us back to the headquarter. Compared to the beginning of the tour, you could see a smile on every face. The fear that determined the atmosphere on our way to the river, was replaced by pride and joy.

Back at the headquarter our sopping wetsuits were ripped of our bodies and we took off our shoes which reminded me of the waterfalls when I turned them upside down. After we were all back in our normal clothes we had a look at the pictures that were taken by a professional photographer at certain spots along the river. The photos could be bought as a package on CD.

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I went on the guided tour through Rotorua’s most active thermal park, Hells Gate. We passed a variety of different thermal features. From mud pools and mud volcanoes to the largest hot waterfall, Kakahi falls, in the Southern Hemisphere. In the past warriors took a bath in there which helped their wounds to heal, due to the sulphur I the water. The sulphur is also the reason for the yellow colour all over the place. Thinking of sulphur being used in matches it gets obvious why the yellow area has black spots. The sulphur and the heat of the sunlight led to a fire.

The most amazing thing I learned about the hot pools is definitely that all of them have their own hot water reservoir underneath, so even if they are really close to each other they won’t be the same temperature and ph. The pools were all named different,e.g. the Huritini Pool, named after a Maori Princess who killed herself after she had married an abusive and violent man. For not endangering her family she threw herself in one of the mud pools, being 68 degrees hot and having a pH of 3.5.

In general, we saw many huge pools in the 50 acres area but we also got the chance to see how the earth changes; our guide showed us pools that were really young. Our guide told us that each morning the paths are checked for new pools so that no visitors will be endangered. Moreover, he always walked in front of us checking the floor with a stick.

There were so many magical things in the park I wouldn’t have seen walking around the park alone. For example, our guide drew a circle on the floor and we were supposed to touch the soil next to it. It was warm. He told us how we would burn our hands touching the earth in the circle. Another magical experience was walking through a gate that didn’t seem magical at all. However, as soon as you were on the other side the temperature decreased and the air was clean, no smell of sulphur anymore. Instead, we were walking in a green forest, learning about the use of the silver fern as a direction sign. I was more than once surprised by the contrasts and little (beauty) secrets of the park and its mud.

At the end of the tour, everyone got the chance to try carving a little piece of wood to take back home afterwards.

Then, finally, it was time for the mud spa. Prepared with my bikini and my towel I went into the spa area providing showers, dressing rooms, mud pools and the sulphur spa to relax afterwards. Before you enter the pool you should definitely take off all your jewellery. Otherwise, it will be black afterwards. In the warm pool, there are boxes from which you can take the mud and apply it on your body leaving out your top half of the face, especially your eyes. The next twenty minutes you don’t have to worry about anything, just relax. The staff was really nice and took pictures of us when we asked for it.

In the sulphur spa, we also got a cold glass of water to compensate for our loss of water due to the heat.

I was really sad when I had to leave the spa to get back on the shuttle. However, the souvenir shop offered a lot of homemade and unique products so you could take the spa feeling home.

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I got picked up from my hostel by a staff member of Canopy tours. We, that means me and the rest of the group, were taken to the office where we had to fill out a form and were weighed to check if everyone fulfilled the requirements. After everyone had filled out the form, had been to the toilet and had taken nothing than a camera we were ready to get started. Our two guides prepared us with helmets, harness and a safety briefing. We jumped back into the car to get to the forest. The drive was quite entertaining and we got to know each other better by playing a little game where you had to name your favorite dessert and a superpower you would love to have.

Finally our group of nine people from countries all over the world arrived at the 500 hectare untouched Department of Conservation forest. We started our three hour tour and already on the first meters we learned a lot about the forest. Standing on the first platform we were taught the most important rule during a canopy tour: “Don’t touch the metal; touch soft things.”   After the first fear was overcome everyone experienced the first zip line. Sit down and let go. Wohoo. The trail got better and better and we passed 10 platforms, 6 zip lines (flying fox) and 2 swing bridges that allowed us to feel the forest and hear the birds but also to take a deep breath leaning over the edge of a platform or using a zip line upside down.

We learned a lot about then importance of the forest for the birds, about animals like the possum that kill the New Zealand birds and how we helped the forest by booking a canopy tour.

The pictures that the guides took during our tour are available on their homepage, so you can download them for free. Finally, one of our guides took us back to our accommodation but not without having recommended some cozy bars and restaurants in Rotorua.

My next stop was Zorb. You could easily go there by bus as well. Before you go there make sure you have your swimsuit with you, so you can decide on site if you want to do the wet or the dry ride.

The first thing you have to do is to complete a completed the ZORB Safety Training And Ride Terms (S.T.A.R.T), for which you will get your certificate printed afterwards, or you can decide to get it send via email. After finishing this, it is time to get dressed. Put on your swimsuit or just take of your shoes for the dry ride and nothing can stop you from rolling down one of the three tracks, anymore. A jeep takes you up the hill where you have a nice view over the tracks you will roll down any minute. They don’t really look steep or dangerous but as soon as you are in one of the Zorb balls you feel different. To get in there you have to go back few steps, run and then take a header ball through tiny whole. The landing is wet and soft since the ball is filled with air and they put water in there before they let you jump in. The next thing that happens is that the only exit out of the ball is closed and you are told to sit back and relax. A few seconds later you have already forgotten about that and lost the feeling of up and down. You are sliding and screaming, water everywhere, even if it seemed to be such a little amount when you were still on top of the hill. There are three different tracks on which you can enjoy the bumpy ride. As soon as you arrive at the bottom, the staff opens the door, take a picture of you and tell you to come on out, feet first. Some more pictures of you in front of your ball and then it is carried back up.

If you decide for the dry ride, you are secured in the ball, so you are turning with him, being upside down half of the trip. Even if it seems like it that doesn’t happen when you are in one of the wet rides. Your body always slides to the side of the ball that is closest to the ground.

No matter what kind of ride you choose to do, I can definitely say you will have fun either way.

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My alarm rang at six a clock, a time I am not used to anymore. I dragged myself out of the bed and put the rest of my belongings in my backpack. The Nakedbus was supposed to be leaving at the harbor, next to Britomart. When I arrived there was already a long line of all kind of people trying to get inside. I thought “No chance that we all fit in there” but finally we did.

After a four hour drive, I must admit I slept most of the time, the bus arrived in Rotorua. Fortunately right in front of the I-site so I easily found out how to get to my first adventure: the Skyline Luge. A bus took me there in about ten minutes. At the bottom Iwas welcomed cordially.

A gondola took me up the hill and I could already enjoy a stunning view over Rotorua and its lake. When I left the gondola I was overwhelmed by all the possible activities to do on top.

First of all, I had a look at the Skyswing, in which you swing high above Rotorua! You are lift up to 50 metres above ground level and the swing speeds up to 120kph. If you are fearless and you want to enjoy the view in a different way than normal, Skyswing is an attraction you shouldn’t miss. Feel free to scream, the sheep living on the meadow under the swing are probably already deaf 😉

Right next to the Skyswing you get the possibility to relax a little more than on the skyswing by taking one of the walking tracks where you got to see exotic and native plantings and can take pictures of fantastic views. Moreover new information sings were just installed, telling you the story of Rotorua and its skyline.

If you are back from your walking track and feel a little exhausted feel free to enjoy either the Buffet and Grill Restaurant or the Market Café. For whatever you decide, you will have not only a stunning view guaranteed but also that you find something to eat you like. There is also the chance to sit outside and watch your mates racing down the luge.

However, I strongly recommend to try it yourself. Before you start you have to put on a helmet and prepare for having a lot of fun. If you ride the luge for the first time a guide will show you how to brace and even more interesting how to speed up. All you have do to do is pull back on the bars to stop, push forward to start.
It's simple, and anyone can do it!

The Luge carts are gravity fuelled and you can decide on your own how fast you want to go. There are three different tracks which have different levels. First of all a two kilometer scenic ride through Redwood Forest. If you feel good enough go for the Intermediate Luge Track which is a 1.7 kilometers long track in length featuring chicanes, a tunnel and awesome views over the city and lake. Last but not least there also is the Advanced Luge Track which is 1 kilometer long and provides exciting tight bends, dips and a tunnel! It doesn’t matter for what track you decide. It will definitely be over too soon and you want to go again. A lift brings you back up the hill and you can enjoy the beautiful forest, the singing birds, the colorful flowers and the view of Rotorua and its lake before you go down again.

If you finally decided to stop racing down the hill there are still many more things to experience.

Experience a 4D ride in the Skyvue which is a 4D Motion Theatre suitable for all ages, showing every 30 minutes, 7 Days a week.

Go into the jelly belly shop and have a look at the portraits made of Jelly beans or try your luck at spinning the jelly belly wheel. You never know what you get. Instead of buttered popcorn I had to eat a jelly bean which tasted like old cheese. Yummy.

If you would like to end your trip with tasting something better, don’t miss the Volcanic Hills Winery and Tasting Room. The winemakers invite you to sample their handcrafted wines which are produced at the winery at the base of the Gondola. Moreover you can enjoy the 180° panoramic views over Lake Rotorua.