New Zealand Day 3: Speed racers Maori style!

Today we woke up and did took the gondola up to the top of a mountain right on the side of lake Rotorua. It was gorgeous up there!!! We did 5 luge rides down and this was the highlight of the day!!! A luge is basically a plastic box with wheels you sit in and use handlebars to turn as you go flying down different paths down the mountain. It was seriously as fun as the day I got a pogo stick!!!! We had so much fun doing it!!! We bought some great pictures of us on the course and on the chair lift back up but I will need to scan those before I can post. Here are some of us that we took on our own though:

We walked around town center of Rotorua then headed back to the hotel to be picked up for the Maori dinner we booked. The Maori people were the original tribes in New Zealand before the Brits came and took over. They have similar dinners to luaus, etc. Is particular one was supposed to be the best in NZ, and I can see why! It was great, and they were hilarious too! So on each bus the driver picked one male to represent that group and be the "chief". He had to learn the traditional greeting to do with the real tribal chief when we arrived and also lead in many other things through the night.... Including a front seat bus ride home talking on the mic about himself. Welllllll- low and be hold they chose Kyle as chief of our bus. He was loving it, and I got some great shots of him doing traditional Maori greetings, dances, etc. I would say he picked up fairly well- just didn't quite fit his look, haha! Enjoy!!!