Rotorua to Christchurch (Mon. Feb. 9)
We left the hotel in Rotorua just after breakfast at around 7:30 AM like we did yesterday. (I got on the Internet this morning and quickly posted the blog for yesterday's travels. This posting will also be late by a day or more depending on when I can get to the Internet again.) Our travels today will find us at Paradise Valley Springs - a wildlife and lion park, then onto a sheep shearing demonstration and finally getting on a jet for Christchurch, on the south island.
The wildlife park has many of the animals in New Zealand. We saw deer, goats, boar, wild pig, ipaca, turkey, small kangaroo (I forgot the name of them), and many other animals.
There are also many birds around: ducks, swans, pheasant, and more. There is also a river that runs through the wildlife park and there are many rainbow trout that can be seen. The scenery in this wildlife park is really nice. One of the springs at the park is called Te Waireka Spring (the spring is over 100 years old). It is described as a "sweetwater" and that it has been scientifically tested and has excellent mineral content, suitable for bottling, and safe to drink, which I did and it didn't taste to bad. (It is believed that the Te Arawa tribe brought their battle wounded warriors to the spring to drink from the waters to help heal them; maybe I should drink a gallon or two.) 
We are only at the park for about an hour and 15 minutes and we were not able to see the lions that they have at the park.
We then made our way to the sheep demonstration and we drove by a Zorba location. These are the big plastic balls that you climb into and then roll down a hill, tumbling all the way. It was said that you can go down as a washer or drier; meaning a bucket of water is thrown in for the washer or no water for the drier.
After getting to the sheep auditorium, the presentation started. They had 19 different types of sheep, each with it's own wool grade and texture.
After bringing on the different rams (all of the sheep brought on the stage were rams), a sheep shearing demonstration was presented. Following the now cold sheep, the moderator brought on a sheep dog to demonstrate the method of herding. In this case, they used ducks instead of sheep. Next, came a demonstration of the dogs (another was brought on stage) running up and down the backs of the sheep, and stopping on command. After the demonstration was done in the hall, it continued outside where one of the dogs was used to move three sheep into a pen.
We then, quickly made our way to the airport to get our flight to Christchurch (which is suppose to leave at 11:30 AM). I was hopping that I would be on the correct side of the plane so I could get pictures of the mountains and lava fields (Mt. Doom and Mordor),
but I was on the opposite side and besides it was cloudy. I did take some pictures of some mountains, but I'm not sure if they are the right ones or different mountains. Our flight took almost 2 hours and again we are on the wrong side to see the lands around 
Christchurch - oh well, we can not expect to be always in the right location. Christchurch is in a very flat plain, flat as a pancake. If it wasn't for the hedges all over the place you could probably see for miles.
After getting off the plane and retrieving our luggage, we boarded the bus for a trip around Christchurch. It is supposedly the most British city in New Zealand, and it looks it. After driving around, we got to our room, then we left for a walk about and had something for dinner.
Jon, tonight I had a Max's Gold, it was good.
Until later.
We left the hotel in Rotorua just after breakfast at around 7:30 AM like we did yesterday. (I got on the Internet this morning and quickly posted the blog for yesterday's travels. This posting will also be late by a day or more depending on when I can get to the Internet again.) Our travels today will find us at Paradise Valley Springs - a wildlife and lion park, then onto a sheep shearing demonstration and finally getting on a jet for Christchurch, on the south island.
The wildlife park has many of the animals in New Zealand. We saw deer, goats, boar, wild pig, ipaca, turkey, small kangaroo (I forgot the name of them), and many other animals.
There are also many birds around: ducks, swans, pheasant, and more. There is also a river that runs through the wildlife park and there are many rainbow trout that can be seen. The scenery in this wildlife park is really nice. One of the springs at the park is called Te Waireka Spring (the spring is over 100 years old). It is described as a "sweetwater" and that it has been scientifically tested and has excellent mineral content, suitable for bottling, and safe to drink, which I did and it didn't taste to bad. (It is believed that the Te Arawa tribe brought their battle wounded warriors to the spring to drink from the waters to help heal them; maybe I should drink a gallon or two.) 
We are only at the park for about an hour and 15 minutes and we were not able to see the lions that they have at the park.We then made our way to the sheep demonstration and we drove by a Zorba location. These are the big plastic balls that you climb into and then roll down a hill, tumbling all the way. It was said that you can go down as a washer or drier; meaning a bucket of water is thrown in for the washer or no water for the drier.
After getting to the sheep auditorium, the presentation started. They had 19 different types of sheep, each with it's own wool grade and texture.
After bringing on the different rams (all of the sheep brought on the stage were rams), a sheep shearing demonstration was presented. Following the now cold sheep, the moderator brought on a sheep dog to demonstrate the method of herding. In this case, they used ducks instead of sheep. Next, came a demonstration of the dogs (another was brought on stage) running up and down the backs of the sheep, and stopping on command. After the demonstration was done in the hall, it continued outside where one of the dogs was used to move three sheep into a pen.We then, quickly made our way to the airport to get our flight to Christchurch (which is suppose to leave at 11:30 AM). I was hopping that I would be on the correct side of the plane so I could get pictures of the mountains and lava fields (Mt. Doom and Mordor),
but I was on the opposite side and besides it was cloudy. I did take some pictures of some mountains, but I'm not sure if they are the right ones or different mountains. Our flight took almost 2 hours and again we are on the wrong side to see the lands around 
Christchurch - oh well, we can not expect to be always in the right location. Christchurch is in a very flat plain, flat as a pancake. If it wasn't for the hedges all over the place you could probably see for miles.
After getting off the plane and retrieving our luggage, we boarded the bus for a trip around Christchurch. It is supposedly the most British city in New Zealand, and it looks it. After driving around, we got to our room, then we left for a walk about and had something for dinner.Jon, tonight I had a Max's Gold, it was good.
Until later.
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