Rotorua is different than I expected, but not in a bad way. The town smells like sulphur. Everywhere. All the time. So there's that. Lots and lots of geothermal activity going on under the ground here! And in the surrounding water!
I got here around noon. Found my hostel, and the woman working at the office gave me a map of the town and showed me a walking track that would take me through tha geothermal park, along the shore through an old Maori village, and continuing along the shore through some more hot pots and such, and ending at the Rotorua museum, which is in a super cool old Tudor-style building, formerly a bath house from the early 1900s.
So after setting into my room, and walking the main shopping street, and eating my PB & h, I started the walk. I got through the park, and ran into 2 German girls I had met in my hostel room earlier in the day. They were headed the same direction as me, so I joined them (call me Holger). They are young girls, like 20, but very nice, and they gave me more suggestions on places to go/see. Through the village, along the waterfront, to the museum. The museum cost $20 so we didn't go in. Just went back to the hostel.
I made dinner - grilled cheese and pumpkin soup again. So yummy! Better than spaghetti. And I headed back to town to walk around some more. Everything was closed (6:45 pm) but I decided to walk back to the museum just to look at the building and surroundings again. The museum stayed open 'til 8 so I figured I could just walk into the lobby area to see the inside. There was just one kid working, and I told him I wasn't coming in because it was too expensive. He said that he would let me in for free, since it was only open for one more hour! I was so excited! I really wanted to see it, but I didn't want to pay $20! So I just hurried through. The building itself was my favorite part. They had a lot of the old bath house stuff still on display, and you could go up on the roof terrace for a really beautiful view. Bonus: it happened to be sunset, which made the view all the better. Magical.
So consequently, I now have to pay it forward to some poor soul, like the kid at the museum did for me. Good karma headed his way.
NZ trivia: Bret from Flight of the Conchords appeared in the short film they show at the museum. I had to ask the kid there if it was him, and he verified. Apparently it was his first paid acting role. Funny
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