Rotorua...time for a small bit of adventure

The day begins at the Agrodome....to view various sheep breeds...there was also a shearing demonstration and a dog working the sheep.   The sheep....and I must admit I had no idea there were this many variety of sheep....here is a photo of the entire presentation of breeds on one stage....yes these are real sheep not stuffed!!

Now here are some close-ups of my favorites...again these are the real deal...

 

Okay...I have put up pictures on the blog earlier on some Sheep Shearing....so I will not duplicate the process here...just provide a couple of pics of the shearer and the shereree....

and...who could leave the sheep farm without seeing the dog  ( who by the way does not bark...is 4years old and responds to both whistle and voice commands....knowing his right and left!!!) and a couple of the lambs....

Then it is off to a nature park and see the Kiwi and some birds, lizards and trout.  Now the Kiwi we saw was not the conventional Kiwi you see in most pictures...those we were not allowed to photograph...only stuffed ones (I will save those for another time)...but there was an interesting variety of Kiwi we did see and here she is....by the way they have tried to mate her with two other males...and she killed both of them!!!!

Now the trout...which are plentiful in New Zealand...but only for the fisherman...you cannot sell them...or poach them to sell...if you are caught it is a very heavy fine....

Now for some birds....my favorite is probably this large pigeon.....but the parrot is so lovable .....

Next up....some of the hot...hot....sulfur smelling....stinky.....thermal springs....along with the mud ponds...

What afternoon would be complete without a luge ride!  WHAT....ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!  I must tell  you I thought I was out of my mind when they suggested this.  The group went up on  a gondola to the top...and there was a restaurant, gift shop and LUGE!  It is like a go cart...but travels down at your selected speed (yeah...right).  Why not...well little did I know it was a twist and turn all the way down...it took about 10 minutes...those were 10 long long minutes....you will not see the picture of me coming down that was taken by the automatic camera...I will save that for later..so I will give you a picture of the gondola going up the hill....me in the helmet...and me just before I crashed into the wall...literally!!!  And finally the chair lift that took me back up the hill for another luge ride down the hill....forget it...one was enough for me...I came back down the second time on the gondola.

Okay...next is a Maori meal and concert.....but for another blog...