But, I’m gonna try to get it together for this post so I can try to stay somewhat on top of this trip before it gets away from me!
So the last few days have been an absolute whirlwind, and because I’m in a rush to get to the south island, I have to push myself even harder to get though the entire north island as fast as humanly possible.
Two days ago, I was forced to make a very difficult decision. We were on our way to a hot water beach, at which you can dig your own holes in the sand and naturally hot water promptly fills the hole (thereby turning it into your very own hot tub). That sounded pretty unique, but then our driver gave us the other option to go sea kayaking out to a range of sculptural volcanic islands in the middle of a beautiful marine reserve. This really put my decision-making abilities to the test…I mean, should I do one awesome thing, or the other awesome thing? I really had a hard time, but ultimately opted for the kayaking. I figured I could use some exercise and the beach we were kayaking to was apparently just obscenely beautiful. I definitely made the right choice. For one, sea kayaking is way different than regular kayaking. It’s two per boat and it is serious physical labor (which I do appreciate). The waves, especially the ones crashing around the islands, were quite unruly, and I had adrenaline spikes every time the little boat went crashing down over the waves. Secondly, the scenery was just breathtaking, especially when we made our way over to Cathedral Cove (called that because the rock formations on the beach arch up into a huge cathedral like shape). The water was blue green and clear to the bottom (in the calm sections).
When we reached the beach, our guide then served up mochachinos on a blanket on the sand (it is a mystery to me how he made these little slices of heaven, but they were just delicious). After that, we kayaked back to another shore and had a dinner at the hostel with all the other lazies who chose instead to soak in the hot water beach. We spent a quiet night at the hostel in Whitianga, a popular vacation spot for people from Auckland, and I went out to a bar to have a drink before calling it a night. We struck up a lively conversation with some locals who were very entertaining and surprisingly well informed about American politics (more informed than I was…I haven’t been paying all that much attention these days). Gotta love impromptu intellectual conversations in random bars….I knew I certainly was happy to talk about something other than where I’m from and where I’m traveling, etc.
The next day, we drove to Rotorua, the geothermal center of NZ. The place is literally a hotbed…steam rises from the ground and the whole are smells of sulphur. It’s also built along a fault line so the entire town is prone to many geological disturbances. Why people choose to set up cities in such dangerous areas is beyond me, but I guess they bring in tons of money from tourism so maybe it’s worth it. When we arrived, some people opted to go Zorbing that afternoon. Zorbing is a New Zealand invention where they place you inside of a huge inflated plastic ball, fill it with warm water, and push it down a hill. You are in this ball with 2 other people, and it is basically a 10 second shit-show. You pay $50 for 10 seconds of crashing and tumbling every which way, and you come out completely discombobulated. It certainly seemed like something I’d be interested in, but I really needed to watch my money so I passed on the Zorbing and went with a few girls on my bus to a spa down the street form our hostel. Because the area is so geothermically active, there are many natural hot/alkaline pools that are supposed to be very good for your skin. I don’t really know what good it it did for my dried out, abused skin, but it was cold and rainy out and it sure was nice soaking in a sulfur hot tub for 20 minutes (even though I did smell like eggs for the rest of the day).
After the spa, we made our way to an authentic Maori dinner/performance. By authentic, I mean a tourist trap that was almost laughable in its cheesiness. I kind of knew it would be like that, but I was looking forward to a home cooked, traditional Maori meal. Who knew the Maoris liked stuffing, turkey, and cranberry sauce?? I mean really, who needs food when you can just gorge yourself on all that authenticity.
After the show, we all went out to the local bar and stayed out will way too late. It was my first night out in a solid week (a virtual crime when you’re on a tour like this). We had to be on the bus the next morning at 8am and that was enormously painful. I think I slept for about 3 hours, but I was kind of getting used to it by that point. We stopped at a geothermal reserve and through puffy, tired eyes, took a look at a huge erupting geyser and boiling mud pools. $20 to anyone who can pronounce the Maori name for the area:
After that, we got back on the bus and made our way to Witomo, famous for it’s cave systems and glow worms. The term “glow worms” is kind of a euphemism. The worms are actually maggots, and the glow is their excrement with which they attract their prey. We got all suited up in thermal wetsuits, and just getting them on would have been enough entertainment for me. It was like trying to put on a wet slug; people were jumping around and squirming and the whole thing took about a half hour to get though. Thermal wetsuits + shorts on top + dorky rubber hiking shoes = SEXY.
After suiting up, we all had to practice jumping off a waterfall backwards into an inner tube. Very funny, and very cold. We made our way into the cave and had to hike part of the way through gushing water and narrow passageways. It was freezing cold down there, but definitely very exciting. Eventually, we made our way to the part of the cave we came to see. We jumped off a waterfall into the labyrinth, and floating down a black river on our inner tubes, we looked up at the roof of the cave to see what looked like millions of stars and galaxies above us. Incredible. The glow maggots each give off one strong point of green light, so that the whole cave top is illuminated by what look like tons of star constellations. I’ve never seen anything like it; I was in awe. The worms decorate the cave all the way though the tunnels and we just floated though silently, star watching. It really was worth every penny. By the time we came out, we were all sufficiently cold and tired, but they gave us some soup afterwards and all in all, it was one of the better activities I’ve done since I came here.
After that, I was spent beyond recognition. We made our way back to the hostel, I cooked myself up some vegetables, thrilled to be eating healthy food for once (until I found that I had sautéed a piece of plastic in with my meal. I pretty much lost my appetite after that). Then I began the arduous task of checking 3 days worth of emails and tried my best to respond to them within an hour of internet time. I was not wholly successful. I cannot believe how expensive it is to get online here…just one of many things I did not factor into my budget.
So this morning, we got to sleep in till about 9am, which is truly a luxury at this point. We are now headed down south to Taupo to do some adventure activities. I signed up for the skydive, but the weather looks like it will prohibit any sort of fun. I’m very disappointed with the weather pattern we’ve been experiencing here. 4 days of straight rain can get anyone down, especially since the Tongariro crossing walk in Taupo will probably be cancelled (the walk is ranked as one of the top ten best walks in the world). The day-long walk is along a mountain range and at the end of it, you can see Mt. Doom used in the Lord of the Rings (actually, the whole walk is 4 days long and I’d do the whole thing it if I had the time to spare). If they do end up canceling the walk, I’m going to skip Taupo all together to try and make my way down south as quickly as possible. I have so little time here so I have to make sacrifices. More reason to come back I guess.
So, so far so good. The tour definitely improved, as people are getting on and off the bus all the time so we get new people at almost every stop. The first leg had a bunch of children on board, but this leg has some people I can hang with so that makes it all a lot better.
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