March 12 - 9:15 pm

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

March 11 (cont.) - 9:40 pm

The stars are shining bright tonight in the Southern Hemisphere. It is weird that I can't see the Big Dipper, or Little Dipper, or any of the stars I can usually point out. But the night sky is no less amazing here. I just walked out of the hostel tv room, (we watched Taken 2 - not good) and I looked up at the stars and had to stop and stare for a minute. Breath taking.
It was a good night at the hostel. I came back from town around 5:30 to make dinner before the rush. I had bought a can of pumpkin soup to go with my grilled cheese sandwich. A very welcome alternative to my usual spaghetti. I love that they have pumpkin soup here, like Campbell's pumpkin soup! It's probably more like butternut squash soup, but whatever I had tonight was delicious. And the grilled cheese was good too! Even though I didn't have butter, and just used some olive oil in the pan. It worked. Tasted pretty great too.
I got talking to a Dutch boy at the dinner table, and other guys came and joined the conversation. By 8 o'clock we had a German, Austrian, French, and 2 Dutch fellas at our table. But then they went to the bar and I joined the crowd in the tv lounge.
I've enjoyed Taupo quite a bit. But as always, there are more places to go, things to see. I'm off to Rotorua tomorrow!

March 11 - 3:30 pm

Another hot one. It can only be in the mid seventies, but when that sun beats down directly, it's very intense. I found a nice rose garden to sit in, with a gazebo, right by the boat dock. It's really nice in the shade.
So anyway, I went skydiving today! Yep, I took the plunge, 15,000 feet up in the air, right over the beautiful Lake Taupo. It was amazing. The scenery and the feeling, the whole experience was surreal. My tandem master was Marley, an Aussie, really nice, immediately made me feel comfortable with the jump. They get you suited up, harnessed in, and into the plane. Smallest plane I've ever been in. Up we went, 5,- 10,- 15,000 feet. It took about 20 minutes to go all the way up- which was great, because I just looked out the window at the patchwork below the whole time. Marley pointed out some of the mountains, and Rotorua, and a few places around Taupo.
When we reached the high point, they opened the door, and each of the divers took their turn jumping out. There were about 6 of us going; I was last. Fortunately, they dont give you much time to be nervous, because your tandem master is pushing you toward the door and out of the plane. You stop for a second right before you jump to take a photo, and then you're falling. Fast. The first few seconds were a blur, trying to readjust and let myself just enjoy the fall. I looked up at the plane, saw it flying away, and then Marley tapped me on the shoulder to let me know I could let my arms out to feel like I'm flying. The resistance was crazy. Cold air blasting at you from below. The freefall lasted 60 seconds, but felt like 15. Then the parachute gets pulled, and you're suddenly just coasting. More time to enjoy the scenery and to process what just happened. Marley let me pull the steering cords, so we did spins. That was really fun. And then we drifted a few minutes more to the landing area. It was all so smooth and seamless; it went by much too quickly, but I enjoyed every second. I want to do it again!

March 10 - 4:30pm

I did not know what I was in for when I took a bike out to explore Taupo today.. I was able to find a church to go to, so that was good. Not too far to ride to. And then I biked from there to the hot water beach of Lake Taupo. The beach was not a pretty sandy beach, and I was wearing my church dress, so I just waded in the water a moment and continued on. The man at the hostel told me how to get to the Huka Falls and Hot Water Stream from the Spa Thermal Park. He said there was a nice biking trail. And it could take an hour or so to get to the falls. Perfect. A little exercise, biking, swimming, waterfalls.. Yes.
Well, my poor body hasn't been on a bike since last summer, and this trail was a real mountain bike trail. I have never been mountain biking, nor really understood the thrill, until today. And now I know. I respect you mountain bikers. It's hard, and scary. First of all, I'm wearing my Toms shoes and a cheapo helmet, my jean shorts, and bungy jumping t-shirt.. All of the real mountain bikers who passed me looked at me like I look at snowboarders who ride in jeans. Or I just thought they were probably judging me.
I started out a bit of a mess, but once I figured out what the bike could do I was much better. Only stopping to walk a few times.. Like ten or fifteen times.. And it was so hot today!! Hottest day I've experienced here. I kept going, finally getting to Huka Falls. So cool!! The Waikato River, New Zealand's longest river, an amazing color, like all New Zealand water - green, then ice blue as it turns into the Huka Falls, and white foam, so much white water! Some of the biggest, most powerful falls I've ever seen. Worth the long, hard bike ride. I bought myself a well-deserved lemonade ice pop from the snack bar there. It was the most delicious, refreshing thing I've ever had.
After taking a few dozen photos I headed back the same way I came on Old Trusty - that's the name I gave my bike. The way back was hard, but not as hard as the way there. Both ways had their ups and downs, so luckily it wasn't all uphill or downhill the way back. It was really a great adventure. But my butt hurts so bad! Should have brought my cycling shorts..
Made it back to Spa Park. It was just a few minutes to the Hot Water Stream from there.That was cool, because there was the river, and a geothermal waterfall flowing into it. Lots of people there, between the falls and the river, choosing their desired temperature to sit and soak. I chose a cooler section, because I was so hot from biking! But moved closer to the falls after a while. Quite refreshing, sunny, peaceful, I'm really glad I decided to explore outside the city center and get to see such amazing places. And try mountain biking! Which was so fun! Only a few close calls. No accidents. A blister on my thumb though. If Tom decides that he wants to start marketing his shoes to mountain bikers, I can be the spokesperson. Me and Old Trusty.

March 9 - 10:30 pm

Busy not busy day. Only a two hour bus trip today, but it just felt like a travel day. I woke up early, because I had gone to bed so early last night. So I got up and got packed. Check out at ten, but then I had to figure out what I was going to do for the 3.5 hours until my bus came. I asked the hostel owner if there were any parks in town, or anything she could recommend for me to do for a few hours. She said "Not really.." Great. "But there is a mountain bike trail across the railroad tracks. You could walk up that until you don't want to go any further."
So I followed that path for about a half hour, and there was a trail off of it that said "[maori name] falls". I took that trail for another twenty minutes up to a lookout spot with a few benches. That's as food as it was going to get, so I stopped there and read some of my book before heading back. Pretty little trail. Kinda like the green rainforesty terrain of the South Island.
Back in town, I sat out in front of my hostel and read some more. Finally it was time to catch my bus. National Park to Turangi. Turangi to Taupo. I walked the few blocks to the Rainbow Lodge to check in and get settled. Met one of my six roommates - Nick from New York. Another American! Went to the grocery store. Much better prices. Went to McDonald's to get wifi. Everything in town was shut down at this point in the day, so I went back to the hostel to make dinner. Spaghetti again. But this time I got good sauce. And cheese! Much better than the other night. By the time I come home I'm either going to be the spaghetti expert, or never want to look at spaghetti again. Maybe both.