What goes up, must come down...

And it does, but not necessarily in the same fashion! Curiouser and curiouser! Take 1 Gondola, no cornettos or gondolier and where will you go? In this case up a mountain! The gondola is cable car, and you go up in it, but luge down! Now before anyone has visions of us in skin tight Lycra (perish the thought!) or “Cool Runnings” Please wipe both immediately from your minds!
The luge may look similar to that used on the superfast downhill tracks, however you can actually sit up on this one, with three wheels and a pair of “handlebars” to steer and brake. So it works a bit like a gravity powered go-kart. You are, of course, going down the side of a mountain for 2Km so it can go fast – even on the scenic route. The speed some of the teenagers were going down the intermediate and advanced routes made us go grey at the thought! There is NO suspension and you’re running 1” from the ground on solid wheels on concrete...work it out! Imagine sitting on top of an operating pneumatic drill or giant orbital sander! Hmmmm...
Great fun for big kids!
We then came down to earth and after a very nice picnic lunch by the side of Lake Rotorua (watching black swans, shags and Australian coots) decided on a bit of culture as we had need of a balanced diet! So wiping the silly grins off our faces we repaired to the Government gardens in the city centre, home to the original Rotorua bath house, which now houses the city’s museum. The bath house is an amazing Victorian edifice which is actually still being built 100 years after it was started as the designer/builder ran out of money!
A surprise was in store for us, as whilst we were watching a volcano in the back seat of the movies (no comments please!) we felt the earth move...(Definitely no comments please...) ! There was a warning that children had to be accompanied by adults as there were frightening scenes and loud noises...
The bath house had some interesting scientific electrical instruments used with baths (mud and water) which makes the mind boggle – physically as well as mentally! You really did get the “full spa treatment” – according to George Bernard Shaw and others. They bore a strange resemblance to instruments of torture as far as we were concerned!
More from us from Hawkes Bay!