The Luge

The Luge

For my birthday I decided I wanted to go to the Luge in Rotorua. Because soccer was cancelled on Saturday, we decided to go last Saturday. My dad took me, mum and Ella. It took us nearly two hours to get there so we had to leave early in the morning. On the way there, we stopped and got something to eat and drink. Ella and I got a hot chocolate and a mince savoury. It was delicious! When we arrived in the car park, there was hardly anybody there. Me and Ella got the Skyswing pack each which contained: A Gondola ride both ways, a Skyswing ride and 5 Luge rides each.

We got in our Gondola and took off up to the Luges. When we got there, there were mountain bikers getting off there Gondolas down to the mountain biking tracks. We both found a coin machine with little Skyline coins inside. They were $2 each so me and Ella got one each. We walked past a lovely gift shop with expensive New Zealand souvenirs. On our way walking to the Luge, we saw the Skyswing. It was so high! At that time Ella and I were regretting our decision and did not want to go on it but my dad said it would be a waste of money and if we did not go on it, we had to pay him the price of the Skyswing ticket. It was over $100 so we decided it would be much easier to go on it.

We walked past the Jelly Belly Bean gift shop and we couldn’t wait to go in there. Then, we lined up for the beginners Luge to get a refresh of how to use them. My dad really wanted to race me but you were not allowed to race them. When we picked our Luges, the lady showed us how to use them and off we went. Ella was behind me and we were speeding through the trees. I did not know where my dad was. We were going so fast that our eyes were watering and our hands were numb. Then, suddenly, my dad zooms past me at about one hundred miles per hour and passes me. I turn my Luge towards him and I tried to push him out of the way. But it did not work. Ella was laughing behind me.

When he managed to get in front of me, a big gust of dust flew in my face and went in my eyes. I could not see for a bit. My dad was laughing so much that he went to rub his eye and he swerved onto the side of the track. He then breaked and could not get his Luge started again because he had stop on a flat path. When we got at the bottom of the track, I waited for Ella to put her Luge on the convener belt and we went on the chairs together. The power kept going out and our chair kept stopping. When we got up to the top, we waited for mum and dad. When we were waiting for them, we were taking selfies and pictures of the area.

They soon came up and got off the chairs. We decided to go on the Luge another time but this time we went on the intermediate track. It was shorter than the one that we had gone on before because since you would usually go a bit faster. Then we went on it another time but this time we went on the scenic track which is another word for advanced. That one was quite short but it was extremely fun! We went so fast and there were little hills. Because we were going so fast, when we went down the hills, your tummy dropped. When we were pulling into the area where you get off of your Luge, I was going so fast that I crashed into a person that was in front of me. They looked at me and gave me a dirty look. Then, Ella and I went back up in the two-seater chairs. We decided to go on the Luge another time as we had 5 turns on the Luge each.

This was our fourth time on the Luge so we decided to go on the beginners Luge again because since it was a longer track and at was my dads last ride. We were having race and my dads Luge was so slow that I passed him. After our ride, we had some lunch at the cafe next to the Luge rides. Me and Ella each had a iced-chocolate and a plate full on hot chips. They were the best hot chips ever! My dad had found some friends from up north that he new so he was chatting to them for a while. We decided, to go into the Jelly Belly Shop while he was talking to his friends.

When we walked in, I went MENTAL! There were artworks made out of Jelly Belly jelly beans, hundreds of flavours of jelly beans, key chains and much much more! There was a big spinning wheel. Whatever one it landed on, you had to eat. They were all bad ones too! I bought a lucky dip, key ring and a badge. When my dad was finished talking, he came into the shop. We decided that since we had one more Luge ride to go, we will do the Skyswing after that. W5e went on the advanced again as it was our last ride. I was going so fast that I went to turn a tight corner and I tipped my Luge. I luckily got it back up again.  

When we made our way up to the top, I was a little sore. Then, it was time to go on the Skyswing. Me and Ella were sweating really badly and we did not wanna do it. We waited in line to give the tickets to the lady. That's when I realised, I had left my Skyswing ticket in the toilet. Ella and I ran to the toilet stressing out and hoping it will still be there. When we got there, I felt a sigh of relief. It was right where I had left it!  Then, we ran straight back to the line.

There were girls already there so we let them go in front of us. Then they said we could go before them. We did not want to but my dad told us to hurry up and go on the ride. We were so nervous that Ella nearly peed herself! We sat on either side of it and the lady strapped us in. Ella was panting so bad and was crying. I just sat there and said nothing as I was in so much shock. It felt like I was frozen. I did not want to do this and I held onto the bars for grim-death! As we were going up, we were slipping out of our seats. This made me even freak out more! Ella thought that she was dying and was not going to come back.

We hit the top and Ella got a big fright. I did not want to pull the rope so I got Ella to. She was panting so hard that she could not grip it. I told her to hurry up and pull it as I just wanted to get down and get it over and done with. I heard her gulp and then thought to myself ‘OH NO’. Next minute I hear a BAM and here we go dropping out of the sky and swinging over Rotorua. Ella and I were screaming so loudly that the whole park turned and looked at us. I also let out a few bad words while going down. That’s when I did not realise that there was a Gopro camera. I look at it and realise that it was on the whole time! Me and Ella just look at each other in shock as I used some coarse language while going down.

When we got off, we were shaking. Everyone was looking at me as like I was crazy. I asked my dad if he could hear me swearing and he said he could hear everything. Because they had filmed it we got to watch our video. I was hoping that you could not hear any of the swearing in it but you could. I did not want to buy the video as it had swearing in it. My mum and Ella were talking and decided that my dad and Ella could go halves in the video. I just about died. When we watched it, everyone was laughing at me because of my swearing. It would have been a better video without my swearing.

Ella and dad ended up buying the video but when we were going to leave, we went into the gift shop and Ella bought a USB  shaped as a little Luge so she gave the Skyswing one to me. In the gift shop I bought a Skyline pen and a Skyline keyring as a have an obsession with key rings and I love collecting them from different places.

Then we had to go. Ella and I were sad because we had such a fun day. I got to pick a place to go for dinner so I picked my favourite restaurant Cobb & Co. When we got there, is was not that busy. I ordered a Traffic Light, Cobb Fish & Chips and a Crocodile for dessert. It was so YUM! Before you got your food, they gave us a couple of pieces of Garlic Bread. It was the highlight of the term!