Road-tripping with family to Cambridge and Rotorua

By Times’ Junior Journalist Alina Jiang During a weekend of the school holidays, my family and I went on a road trip from Auckland all the way to Taupo. I got to experience lots of different experiences, from a watery jetboat ride to relaxing in a warm spa. Day 1 – Saturday Halfway through our drive to Rotorua (our first stop) we stopped at Cambridge to take a quick lunch break, then went to see the cherry blossom trees at Lake Te koo Utu. The view there was beautiful! The cherry blossoms looked amazing and the trees were full of life, mostly bees buzzing around the flowers, and birds. Then we continued our trip to Rotorua, eventually stopping at the Rotorua Skyline, with gondolas going up and down the mountain. My dad and I got on a gondola while the rest of my family decided to head back to the hotel. We got a full view of the majestic Lake Rotorua. Once we were high in the air it looked absolutely stunning in the afternoon sun. Once at the top of the mountain, we went to the HyFly Zipline, which let me tell you was an amazing experience. You’d get to be high in the air, and if you wanted to, you didn’t have to hold onto the handle and you’d feel like flying! Then we got to go on the luge. It was fast, fun and full of life. There were five different levels: Gravity, Legend, Ultra, Tiki Tour and Twister. Unfortunately, Tiki Tour was closed so we didn’t have a chance to go on it. The ride on the Luge Cart depended on what path you chose. Some paths involved twists and turns while I remember one involved a pathway through a place full of trees, with some fake dinosaurs. After that we went back to the hotel, to get ready for another exciting road trip day on Sunday! Day 2 – Sunday After a delicious breakfast, we went to the Waikite Valley Hot Pools. It had many pools, from warm spa pools to a normal temperature swimming pool, and one of the best things about it was the pools were surrounded by plants as well as a cool refreshing air. After that, my family and I went to Huka Falls, which is one of the most visited destinations in New Zealand. Fun fact! The ‘Huka’ in ‘Huka Falls’ means ‘foam’. I got to ride on the jetboat, which was quick, windy and very watery! The boat zoomed around, smacking my hair into my face, and sometimes it would go 360 degrees around, spinning on the water and eventually stopping, getting us all wet even with the life jackets on. We stopped at a couple of destinations, the person in charge of controlling the boat telling us information about them, but in my opinion the best part was when we got to Huka Falls and got a good view of it up close, even getting to be sprayed by the water coming out from it. Then once done checking the photos, my family went to the Huka Prawn Park, which is just by Huka Falls. We had a delicious lunch with a prawn platter as well as some chips and some fizzy drinks, then we started to head back to Auckland. The road trip was a great and fun experience. We got to go to new places and try new things. Overall, I would rate the trip 10/10 and I totally recommend you visit some of these destinations that my family and I went to. Alina Jiang is in year 7 at Bucklands Beach Intermediate School