Observiews

North Island- Wednesday

Wednesday was planned on the fly- I had to switch some plans, I moved going to Rotorua up by a day- so I had to do bus and hostel bookings. I would have loved to go sky-diving- but the weather was not permitting. Oh, well.

I went to the library- and made some plans for Rotorua- such as a volcanic valley and white-water rafting, And then I just walked around the lake, which was interesting in itself because every 100 yards or so there was a "Danger- Hot Water!" sign- because of the geothermal heated waters.

When I arrived in Rotorua later that day I discovered something- it stinks- literally- there was a lot of geothermal activity and the first and brimstone that did it I guess. (btw- its cool that I was here because I just read a paper that mentions Rotorua for work- AWESOME!). I walked around town a little to get some bearing that day, I also watched TV that night- a rare thing indeed for me- it was a nice indulgence though if I do say so myself.

Sorry it was, cloudy, wet, and miserable- not the best lighting for photos.

ROTORUA

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I didn't mention this before but I saw- A LOT of rainbows- like a crazy amount during this trip.

MUD!

I have no idea what these were- they looked like Tulips, but it was fall.

North Island- Tuesday

Tuesday is a two-part adventure- I finished up Napier in the Morning, and in the afternoon/evening- I explored Taupo.

Napier:
I awoke early so that I could watch the sunrise- (btw- I was about an hours drive away from Gisborne- the town where the Sun first rises every day). And nature did not let me down- I think the favorite parts of my trips have been the sunrises- for some reason they really have blown the sunsets away- and they are a really good way to start the day.

After that I had a few hours to burn before my bus left- so I explored the town center and developed and appreciation for art deco- I also explored an amazing little store called Possum world- filled with- you guessed it- Possum! NZers really love to make these Possum-Merino wool socks and sweater- quite possible one of the softest things you will ever touch- its ok to kill the Possums too- they're invasive!

I also checked out some NZ jade- which is everywhere- but it was called Jade World- how could I resist?

After that little stint I went and tasted wines at the wine center. I think my favorite part was going into a room with 52 different smells- I love smelling things! (one time I went into a spice store- those were the happiest 30 minutes of my life!) I tasted 6 wines- I am not sure that I really liked any of them- but I think I was able to pick up some of those subtle hints. My favorite was a Gewurztraminer- it had a lot of interesting flavors. For the record I think I still prefer beer.

After that I just hung out on the beach until my bus came- I feel like I now know a lot about beaches from my classes. So that was cool.

Taupo
After dropping my stuff off in Taupo I began walking on the neared hiking trail- I eventually found my hot springs. In a word- they were wonderful- there is something fantastic about being outside on a rainy day and jumping into a thermal spring with waterfalls- it was great! It was then getting dark, but I heard there were a cool waterfalls about an hours walk away- so I found it I had to use my phone to light the path sometimes but I found it! On the way back I saw glowworms which are tiny bioluminescent larvae that have a blue-green glow- it was magical. It took two hours to get back- by which point I was thoroughly soaked- but happy! I discovered that I had a room with some Irish and English guys- that night we went to a pub quiz- it was kind of like knowledge bowl so I was happy! (Btw- people from the UK are really fun to hang out with- I highly recommend it).

The only sad part of the day was finding out that the Tongariro Crossing- (which I had been looking forward to- I would have climbed mount doom!)- was closed, so I had to scramble a bit a reschedule plans, but it all worked out fantastically.

Pahea of the sea

This is a possum- that is a pup feeding out of its mothers pouch

Ah, Possum-World

I really liked this verse

TAUPO

People bungee off those cliffs.

This is HAKA falls

Glow-worms!

North Island- Monday

Monday was my first day of traveling outside of Wellington, I took a but from the train station (yes, I know people normally take trains, but buses are so much cooler). It was a nice opportunity to see the topography, which is significantly flatter then the South Island, there were some hills but none on them matched the South Island's scale. One of the coolest parts of that ride was going up a hill into a cloud and being surrounded by windmills, it was almost surreal to see those giant rotors silently chopping up the clouds, if this is what the future looks like I am in favor of it! On my way to my destination I went through Hastings, which is the same name as the town where my brother Josh lives, small world, huh? I finally arrived at Napier that afternoon, it is a cute little seaside town, with a Art Deco theme as most buildings were destroyed in a earthquake in the early 1930's and rebuilt in the style of Art Deco.

Upon arriving and checking my stuff in I did headed for the nearest hill to get my bearings of the city, so I walked a local bluff, the view was pretty neat, I could see Cape Kidnapper- which is NZ's equivalent of the White Cliffs of Dover.

It was also the Queen's birthday that day, so shops closed early--that was a little irritating. I managed to make it to a store called wool world- I would have liked to take the free tannery tour but I was too late- still it was pretty cool to just see all of the hides.

I got food for dinner- kiwifruit @ $1.50 a kg! (I am going to miss that). And then I walked the beach, that's one of the advantages of visiting a sea-side town.