Our Australia leg had gone very well indeed and it was time to fly over to New Zealand to do all the theme parks there. The country prides itself on it's extreme outdoor activities such as jet boats, bungee jumps and zorbing and the downside to this is is that there aren't many theme parks at all. Rainbow island however is the biggest, so had to be on our itinerary.
Rainbow's End is approximately 30 minutes south out of Auckland city centre. When we got there we were made aware that due to the low number of anticipated visitors the rides would be running on schedules with half open at any one time. Not a bad plan, it's better than just leaving rides down all day.
The first coaster that we did, because it was open when we got to it, was the mine train and what a find. It's uniquely themed and has some wonderful touches within it such as steering off the main track, explosions and it starts descending as soon as it leaves the station; the lift hill is at the back of the circuit.
Loving the artwork in the queue line!
This part of the park was beautiful. In fact the whole park was really nice indeed.
This is Invader and we fortunate to get the last go on this before it swapped with the corkscrew coaster. Actually we'd just missed it but the ride op saw as allowed us to jump the closed sign to get on board.
The corkscrew wasn't too bad at all. I'm more than used to these rides now and know where to brace. Because queue lines were short the ride operator gave us a second lap, which we didn't mind at all. A sign that it couldn't have been that bad really.
The final coaster is the childrens ride, Dragon's Flight and you have to have a child to ride it. The girls running the ride were doing the right thing in not allowing us to ride but I asked to speak to their manager who came over and talked to us. I told her about our trip and whether we'd be allowed to take advantage of it being so quiet to be allowed to ride. We were given the OK and we got our ride. Sweet!
Jumping for joy. Actually there's a story behind this photo. Two park staff were trying to take some publicity photos of people enjoying the park jumping in the air but she wasn't able to get the shot. We think the exposure was set too long and by the time the button had been clicked the chap was back on the floor. I took this just to show it could be done.
The Motion Master is the park's indoor cinema and does not refer to bowel movements, unless you're travel-sick that is in which case it might be appropriate.
The drop tower, whilst not as high as the one at Dreamworld, does offer a nice view of the area. Realising the view was so good we asked if we could ride again and take our cameras up. "No worries" was the response and we were handed the cameras and taken back up.
The view of the corkscrew coaster.
The chipmunks are not so annoying when they unable to talk.
I really liked the water boat ride as they've got islands to go around and bridges to go under. Much better than a square pool that you usually get.
I love this. Straightforward customer service. I had a great time and here I am telling you about it! Rainbow's End is a lovely park and I was already liking the New Zealand people despite only being here for a few hours. We have a stereotype that the Australians are laid back relaxed people, but it's the New Zealanders that that should apply to...No worries Rainbow's End.
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