Rotorua NZ – Afternoon May 18th

After spending the morning with the Hobbits in The Shire (the village of Matamata), we drove to Rotorua on the shores of a lake in a volcano crater. The rim of the caldera rises behind the town. This location was prized by the Maori for its thermal hot springs. An island in the middle of the lake was formed from later magma discharges from the volcano core.

We took the Sky Tram up the mountainside to a park offering various outdoor activities such as maintain bike descents, alpine slide luge runs, Zip-lining, and one we had not seen before, the "Sky Swing.”

The swing is, well, a big swing hanging from 150 foot cables attached to towers on either side. A cable hooked to the back of the swing attaches to a third tower up the hill so they can winch you up until the swing cables are horizontal. You pull a release, accelerate down and forward and swing way out over the town and the lake below. New Zealanders like this kind of stuff.

What kind of idiots would do something like that?

As they started to winch us back. Joani started to have second thoughts.Trigger Alert: NSF, use of mild expletives.

It was time to release the cable. Three, two, one, Go! We hit 90 mph in less than 3 seconds as the swing posts flew by in a blur. The acceleration pulled the skin taut across our faces. Then we reached the apex high out over the lake with the town below, we could just sit back and relax. Or not.

Joani finally relaxed and enjoyed swinging and decided it was “no big deal.” Said she would do it again now that she knows what to expect.

We went to the alpine slide where a cold and wet fall day meant no crowds and a clear track ahead. Joani put the pedal to the metal and flew down the track faster than ever. The adrenaline was pumping. A quick drink in the mountaintop chalet bar and then back to the warm confines of the Oceania Insignia for Happy Hour. We set sail for Auckland and toasted putting yourself out your comfort zone.