Geysers and Lakes

My next town was Rotorua (Raw-tor-ooh-ah), famous for it's hot pools and sulphurous smells. The bus driver had a Maori appearance to her, and a really nice gentle voice too - it's from her that I learned the "proper" (though I'm still not certain they're correct) pronounciations of the various place names.

Rotorua was awesome. The weather had continued being fairly un-rainy since leaving Tauranga, and after arriving at the hostel went for a quick walk down the high street to Lake Rotorua, the second largest in New Zealand. So the lake was impressive, but it was cloudy, so everything seemed fairly uninspiring. Having said that, I thought Rotorua was somewhere I'd want to spend more time, despite the smell of rotten eggs from the geysers which are all over town.

My hostel was awesome. The whole town is pretty much powered geothermally, so all the rooms at the hostel were so cosy and warm. There was a hot tub, but no-one used it whilst I was there, and the owner was really friendly and chilled out, letting me know everything there was to do for free, and if I needed anything they'd sort it out, no worries. There were some crazy guests there too:

• A couple of American girls whose names I didn't get, but they were obsessed with The Lord of the Rings. I'd heard about the people who took all three Extended Editions with them to New Zealand, and had the location guides, and had planned to visit Hobbiton, and Edoras, and all those tours, but I never thought I'd see them for real. It was nice being able to unashamedly flex some TLotR knowledge though...
• An American girl called Sharlene, and her Korean friend Tu-Yong, who were both travelling together, almost the same route I was doing around the islands, although spending slightly longer in different towns.
• A Canadian woman called Sam who used to be a teacher at a Special-Ed school, but fled to different countries after breaking up with her boyfriend of 10 years. She was travelling with a girl who studied at Leeds, Cat.

Anyway, I don't remember everyone, but those people were a laugh and good-spirited. My first night in Rotorua I had the room (8-bed dorm) all to myself, so could sniff and cough through a cold without worrying about disturbing anyone.

In the morning the rain was torrential. Delightful. I spent the morning watching The Fellowship of the Ring with the two American nerds, before the rain settled down, and I went on a huge walk out to Old Taupo Road, and then went back towards town through Kuirau Park. The park was amazing, despite the rain. It's filled with hot pools and geysers that gave off a constant warm steam. Sure, they stank, but it was pretty cool seeing the volcanic nature of everything there. So I walked around the park for a bit, then went to the eastern most point of town before walking around a nature trail, and going back to the hostel to bum around some more. It was annoying, because Rotorua is a place I really wanted to see, and the rain just put a damper on everything. Psht.

In the evening I went to see A Film with Me In It, a Dylan Moran film, with Sharlene. It was a black comedy, and I don't think I anticipated how black it would be; with seemingly nice characters being killed off without any emotion, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Still, it was fun.

Aaand my last day in Rotorua it was sunny. Great. So I left Rotorua after getting a couple of photos of the lake under a blue sky, and caught the bus to Taupo (Toe-paw). It was nice that I had the same bus driver as my last journey; I guess she just does that route day after day. The drive was nice and mountainous, and we got some commentary all the way about sites of interest and general history of the surrounding areas.

Taupo was stunning. In a genius move, and the third successive time in a row, I walked the wrong way towards my hostel, but once I was there I met all the Kiwi Experience backpackers in my room, and then went for a walk to enjoy the scenery. Lake Taupo is the largest in New Zealand, and it stretches for miles towards mountains in the south, which on a clear day, you can see, and I had two clear days.

Just to clarify, I was in Rotorua for two nights, and only had one night in Taupo as a stopover towards Wellington, but it was by far my favourite town so far. The weather was perfect, the lake was perfect, and the hostel and town were great. In my room there were six people who had been travelling together or met on the Kiwi Experience bus. Mark (from Leeds) and Ben, met in Sydney; Laura and Jen had known each other for years; and Laura and Lauren, who I didn't really get to know. Anyway, after my walk I returned to the hostel for $5 chilli and rice, and then we all got ready to watch the rugby: All Blacks vs. France.

After the depressing first half (the French scored two tries), we moved on to an Irish Pub to take in the Kiwi atmosphere and watch them lose absolutely. It was great being around a load of merry New Zealanders too; they're really friendly. Even when you're trying to go to the toilet, they're introducing themselves and asking about your travels around the country and your life story. Good times. Most of us got back to the hostel at about midnight, and then at 2 a.m. Laura and Lauren returned off-their-faces and with big piles of McDonalds, and they spend half an hour screaming and generally waking everybody in the hostel up, so I didn't sleep all that much that night - we tried shutting them up, but that provoked them into making more noise.

The next morning I checked out, and then enjoying the stunning clear blue skies, thought I should go on a walk to see as much around the lake as possible before catching the bus later that day. The first stop was McDonalds, where I had a BLT bagel for breakfast. As for my trek, there's not much to say except that I walked from the hostel around to Acacia Bay - approximately two hours there - and enjoyed running around the bush trails and beaches to go as far down the west coast as possible, taking photos as I went. The way back was a bit of a killer. I was getting dehydrated, and the sun was bearing down, and like a moron, I took my ski-jacket with me in case I got cold, so had to tie it around my waist almost immediately giving myself unnecessary extra weight. I was also running against the clock because I didn't want to miss my bus, but without any trouble, I found a less convoluted route and got back in time to say goodbye to everyone before leaving for Wellington.

The drive down to Wellington was incredible. On a double-decker coach, we took a winding road around the east coast of the lake, swinging from side to side as we went, before hitting the Desert Road south, passing Mt Ruapehu in mesmerising mountainous land. After a while we hit fog, and then darkness fell, so I focussed on my music, and drifted in and out of consciousness until our 6 hour journey came to an end. I got off at Wellington railway station, where I met Caitlin again, and her Mum's really close friend, Liz, and we went home to a suburb of the city, Karori. The next two days would be my last with Caitlin until she returns to the UK.