* Escape from Murphy?
Terry, Rachel, Ben, Angela, and Tom have converged upon Tutukaka this morning to take a ship out to Poor Knights Island for some scuba. I realized that I would rather be on the surface of the water than underneath, so I drove a little over an hour north to Bay of Islands. Hopefully this will break Murphy's Law, because I am signed up for a Dolphin Swim. Last time I tried this we didn't see any dolphins. Hopefully today will be better.
As for zorbing, Terry and I each took two rides in the zorb. I wanted one dry and one wet, but they only had the wet zorb working. So, what is a zorb? It's a plastic ball inside a plastic ball. The inner ball is held in place by over a hundred bungee cords connected to the outer ball. The dry zorb has a harness to keep you into place, and after riding down in the wet, I understand why. In the wet zorb (they put a little water in it with you) you are not attatched to anything. What's it like? Imagine a waterslide that you can't tell which direction you are going next. It doesn't matter if you go down head first or feet first. You can attempt to get up and surf down it. Actually, at the start they have you walk the beginning of the hill, as if you're in a gerbil ball. I don't think I made it more than ten feet either time before falling down and just enjoying the ride. Terry kept attempting to stand up, but failed at that as well.
After zorbing we went to kiwi encounters to see some kiwi birds. Due to introduced predators, kiwi chicks only have about 5% chance of staying alive in the wild to maturity. Kiwi encounters takes the egg, incubates and hatches the chick, and then nurtures the chick through adolescence, the first six months. The kiwi is then released back into the wild, the place where it was taken from. The re-introduced kiwi have had no problem adapting back to natural habits, so that's a good thing.
Yesterday morning Rachel and Terry went to Hobbiton. After that we drove North to Tutukaka to camp for the night, so they could go diving this morning.
I will let you know if the dolphins come out to play, and have someone else tell you about diving!
Serena
As for zorbing, Terry and I each took two rides in the zorb. I wanted one dry and one wet, but they only had the wet zorb working. So, what is a zorb? It's a plastic ball inside a plastic ball. The inner ball is held in place by over a hundred bungee cords connected to the outer ball. The dry zorb has a harness to keep you into place, and after riding down in the wet, I understand why. In the wet zorb (they put a little water in it with you) you are not attatched to anything. What's it like? Imagine a waterslide that you can't tell which direction you are going next. It doesn't matter if you go down head first or feet first. You can attempt to get up and surf down it. Actually, at the start they have you walk the beginning of the hill, as if you're in a gerbil ball. I don't think I made it more than ten feet either time before falling down and just enjoying the ride. Terry kept attempting to stand up, but failed at that as well.
After zorbing we went to kiwi encounters to see some kiwi birds. Due to introduced predators, kiwi chicks only have about 5% chance of staying alive in the wild to maturity. Kiwi encounters takes the egg, incubates and hatches the chick, and then nurtures the chick through adolescence, the first six months. The kiwi is then released back into the wild, the place where it was taken from. The re-introduced kiwi have had no problem adapting back to natural habits, so that's a good thing.
Yesterday morning Rachel and Terry went to Hobbiton. After that we drove North to Tutukaka to camp for the night, so they could go diving this morning.
I will let you know if the dolphins come out to play, and have someone else tell you about diving!
Serena
Labels: *, serenissima
posted by serenissima @ 11:23 AM
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