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Frommer's NZ
Rough Guide To NZ

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ACTIVITIES AT TREETOPS
As you can see, when it comes to activities Treetops has it all. To begin with, there are over 47 miles of hiking trails. Some lead to incredible vantage points. My two favorite tours were the Maori Indigenous Food Trail and horseback riding with Didi.

MAORI INDIGENOUS FOOD TRAIL
The Maori Indigenous Food Trail takes about 2 ½ hours. It’s a very easy, mellow walk through the woods where Charles P.T. Royal, a Maori and New Zealand’s 2003 Innovative Chef of the Year, teaches guests which plants can and cannot be eaten. New Zealand has the greatest variety of ferns in the world -- over 200 -- but only 7 are edible. Charles taught us all about the indigenous herbs and plants. He said the only things in the New Zealand forest that will hurt you are bees and needles. Phew! I was so relieved there are no snakes in this country, and only one poisonous spider (it’s not found in this region). Another interesting tidbit is that newborn fern fronds are called "the koru." This Maori name symbolizes new life, growth, strength and peace. It is a major symbol in Maori carving and tattoos, and is also the symbol on Air New Zealand’s tail.

BRIDAL VAIL FALLS
The highlight came when we reached the Bridal Vail waterfall. This 80-foot cascade was one of -- if not the most -- beautiful acts of nature I have ever seen. It really can’t be described, only experienced. It was absolutely amazing! There we set up camp for lunch. I knew it would be an interesting meal when Ian, a Treetops staff member, started chopping logs in half for the appetizer, and pulling huhu grubs (worm larva) from the wood. I passed on eating these high- protein worms raw. But as you can see in the video below, after Charles sautéed them up and presented them so deliciously with pikopiko (New Zealand fiddlehead fern) and on rewana (bread), it was too difficult to say no. We washed them down with Taakawa beer. The main course was salmon smoked in horopito with manuka honey and kararengo (seaweed). Maori Indigenous Food Trail starts at $185 NZ ($115 USD) an hour.

HORSEBACK RIDING WITH DIDI
Now for one of my Top 10 travel experiences of all time. Treetops employs a man named Didi Rice. Didi is half Maori, with European blood, and is a real character. He’s also a horse whisperer. When I signed up for this 2-hour ride I had no idea what I was in store for. Didi took me on an exciting, jaw-dropping tour of the Treetops property. Although my sister Carol has always had horses I’ve never felt entirely comfortable, especially going down steep hills and over rivers as Didi took me on. But the combination of Didi’s knowledge and the sheer beauty of this property made the ride truly unforgettable. To make it even more exciting, we were riding during "elk in heat season." These guys were monsters, and would not stop howling! Didi explained how these elk were busy rounding up as many hinds (female red deer) as possible. It was like watching something out of National Geographic as they lined all their girls up, and chased all the horny loser stags away. If these elk could write a book it would be an instant bestseller. On the way back to the lodge a huge elk was blocking our trail home. Fortunately we were on horseback so they didn’t charge us -- otherwise I would have became an instant cowboy. Yee haw! Along the way we rode by water buffalo, pheasants, peacocks, wild pigs, even trout.

TREETOPS LODGE
Treetops, 351 Kearoa Road, RD1, Horohoro, Rotorua, New Zealand; tel.:64-7-333-2066; email: info@treetops.co.nz. Rates begin at $490NZD ($308 USD) per person and include breakfast, dinner and cocktail hour.

VIDEO
Here’s a 2-minute Johnny Jet Video of my trip down to Treetops. The activities at the end of the video will be explained in detail in next week’s newsletter. BTW: With high-speed the video takes about one minute to load; with dial-up, please allow up to three weeks.

NEXT WEEK
Next week we finish up with some incredible activities, including a helicopter landing on a volcano and zorbing! Find out what the heck zorbing is, and the country where I am now. Hint: I’ve been here many times before, but never to this particular place (it’s the country’s second largest city).