4th Entry

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Hello

Well I've been in NZ now for one month. So far so good. We did head off and leave for Rotorua. We only stayed there for one night. I think a big reason for that is because it was really commercial. (You weren't kidding Auntie Wendy) We could have stayed there and probably spent a crap load. We went to the Wai-o-tapu Thermal Wonderland and it was pretty cool but we paid just under $30 for it and I don't really feel justified in paying that much for it. I just felt like I was getting ripped off, not to mention there were so so so many people there, and when there are that many people in one place It feels way too touristy and doesn't feel as special. Everyone had a camera and were snapping so many pics. It just takes away from the experience when all those factors are added together. I decided not to go Zorbing either (roll down a hill in a plastic ball) cause it was $50 for 10seconds of fun. I thought Rotorua was cool but was way too exploited, and I don't like that at all.

The next day we took off to Taupo, which is really nice. We stayed there for 2 nights and our first day there we had a fun day doing a bunch of free things in the area. First we went to the Turangi Trout Hatchery, which was pretty interesting, I really want to possibly come back to this area and do some trout fishing, since I'm such a great trout fisher in Calgary, for all you who didn't already know. After that we went to the Honey Hive where there is a lot of bees, that are all over the place, in tubes and such. I sampled like 20 types of honey, and I think I only liked maybe 4 of them. We also sampled some free fruit wine, which was really good, we bought a few bottles. After the honey hive we went to Huka Falls which is one of the coolest waterfalls I have ever seen, the water is a really strong turquoise color and the valley in goes down before the actual falls is pretty cool. (I have pictures up on Facebook, I'll try and get them up here). After the falls we were going to go to this other thermal park that was on the Free list in the Lonely Planet guide. But when we got there it wasn't free, it was $5 so we didn't go in. The best part was that in the guide it said it was great place to go to because it wasn't commercially exploited and was free. But maybe it was just that people didn't make any donations when visiting it that they had to start charging, I don't know? So that was our free day in the Taupo area after Rotorua.

Our Second night in Taupo was pretty uneventful, probably cause the next morning we had the Waitomo Glow Worm Caves booked for 10am and it was a 2hr drive. Well even though we had to get up at 7am we still didn't get much sleep cause there was a bar below our hostel and the beds were really squeaky. Anyway we got up and got to the caves and at the start we had to Repel ourselves down the cave entrance, probably about 27meters, I think. Next we started walking into the cave and saw all the Glow worms which were pretty cool, they are definitely worth seeing. Then we floated in the caverns of the cave on tubes and did a little more hiking through the caves. We didn't really get the chance to do this one part of the caves where you go through a cavern where only your head sticks out of the water and the sides of the rock walls keep jabbing you as you go through. Our Guide said only one person has made it through and he said it was really unpleasant. Well anyway after that we came back to the part where we entered and we rock climbed our way out to the top. It was pretty fun but I really wanted to do more adventuring through the caves and I could have done some more rock climbing, but oh well what can you do, It was still pretty cool.

After the Caves we took off (I fell asleep in the back of the car) and when I woke up we were in Hamilton, so we spent a quiet night in Hamilton, didn't really do much, I stayed in and Ashley and Kev went to a movie and to the Casino where Kev won $400. Then they woke me up to let them in the hostel cause "smartly" they didn't take the room key. We left Hamilton in the morning and headed East, we stayed in Whakatane for one night (last night). Whakatane was a pretty quiet town and the bars. I mean bar (theres not too many to choose between) doesn't pick up until after 12.

This morning we took off to Gisborne, where we are now, and all we've done today is drive and swim in the ocean. Tomorrow we are gonna continue South cause Ashley really wants to get to the south Island by Tuesday, Kinda making me go at a faster pace then I want but whatever. Anyway I have 1 minute of internet left so I miss you all and I will talk to you sometime.

Sean

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