For the first travel weekend, I went up to Rotorua and Waitomo. They're in the middle of the Northern Island. Rotorua is a volcanic region and very geothermically active.It is over some of the thinnest crust in the world (only six miles deep).
The whole city smells like sulfur. I'm pretty sure that when I showered after returning that my pores were releasing sulfur, having been opened, and I smelled like a rotten egg covered in citrus.
During the 7 hour bus ride, I learned that New Zealand is surprisingly diverse in habitat. Also that I don't want to live here anymore. We drove past snow capped volcanoes, areas where the dirt looked like black sand, heavily forested areas, areas that felt like rainforests, meadows, rocky areas, endless mountains, giant lakes, and a lot of sheep. And the amount of sheep was impressive as I did not even go to the south island where the majority of the sheep are.
Also, the bus kept stopping in these towns that were like nothing. I'm pretty sure some did not even have a grocery store. They were smaller than what I imagine a small town being. And for the people who lived on the ranches, I don't even know how they do. There were billboards for grocery stores because they were so far apart.
Anyways, really long bus ride. I discovered McDonalds, but McCafe. They are real places here. Europeans don't like to be rushed with their coffee so coffee is more of a sit down thing and McDonalds adapted. I got a very delicious spinach and feta muffin. I'm planning on returning to try some macarons.
After the bus ride we checked into a hostel (my first hostel stay!). We stayed at crash palace which had a rock theme. It had horrible mattresses that felt like sleeping on the floor but the atmosphere and the people passing through fascinated me. The second night we got upgraded to a private suite and the beds were much better (understandably as it went from 25 dollars a bed to 64, but we got charged the 25).
We went to a geothermal spa called Hell's Gate. I was expecting black walls and fire, but no it was just a beautiful outdoor spa. We paid a good amount of money to cover ourselves in mud, then play with the mud, and to soak in mineral water that made me smell awful for days. I think it was my favorite part of the trip.
The next day, we got up early to visit the glow worm caves. Cameras weren't allowed in but it was amazing. They looked like little blue lights as if we were looking up at the stars. Also, the Maori people own the caves and use them as a cathedral.
Upon returning to Rotorua, we visited an ice cream shop. It was the best ice cream ever. I got a double cone, but I was so excited I could not take a picture. But it was actually two ice cream cone tops attached to one stem. I got goody gum drop, that actually tasted like gum drops and had large gum drops in it, and limonata cheesecake which had cheesecake bits but not the common kind. It was so good. Really the food I had there, though horribly expensive was delicious. We went to an italian place the first night and I had this pizza, there will be a picture, it was so delicious. The next night we had Thai, though good, Thai isn't my thing. It was called Amazing Thai though.
That evening was horribly disappointing and made me questions a few decisions I've made.
The next morning, I was in a bad mood.
We saw the outside of the museum, but did not have time to go in. We watched some croquet and what they called bowling but it really looked like bocchi ball. The government gardens were like walking into what I imagine areas of England to look like.
The ride home I got horribly car sick and it was generally bad. I tried raspberry fanta (soda is so expensive--4:50 for the bottle, but I had hoped it would settle my stomach a bit). It sucked.
To not make this any longer, my adventures of today will be in a following post.
Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed in the caves and pictures are silly when covered in mud.
On the first bus break: an alpaca!
Sheep!
This was super beautiful from the bus. I have a better picture from my tablet.
I forgot to mention, we visited a jade crafting studio. I'd love a jade necklace, but prices are too high.
Canadian jade, Russian jade, new zealand jade, Australian jade is black and not shown
The Italian place was on this street as well as the ice cream. Eat Streat
Super delicious pizza
I couldn't take a picture of the caves, but as prove of being there, pillar out front
The cave I was previously in.
The entrance to the Government Gardens.
Government Gardens and the museum. Beyond the pond are croquet and bowling fields.
Flowers in pond.
Geothermal spring. PH of 1, temperature of 212 degrees.
The soda.
