Carried Away by a Moonlight Shadow

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We had a late start to things today as we had a bit of a mammoth lie-in to make up for 3 weeks' worth of lost sleep on the soft bed in Auckland. We both felt really refreshed for the first time in ages a result, so we packed our day bag and spent the remainder of the day wandering around town trying to work out where everything is and how much everything costs.

Rotorua has one of the best Tourist Information Offices I've ever seen and we left with armfuls of leaflets and a local bus timetable which was the only thing that cost any money (NZ$1). We explored the delights of the local supermarkets and stocked up on groceries for the next few days. Rotorua's city centre is pretty compact and everything was in easy walking distance from the hostel. Things seemed to be going well until we started checking around for an internet cafe. The hostel was charging NZ$6 per hour (over £2) which we thought was a bit expensive. We went to every single internet cafe around and found that the price didn't vary greatly. The best price we found was NZ$4 per hour which was still pretty steep in my book and so I resgined myself to not blogging for a few days. While it may not sound like much money in the grand scheme of things, New Zealand is by far the most expensive place we've visited since Japan and every cent counts!

The weather hasn't improved here much from Auckland unfortunately and an icy wind persisted all day long, bringing the temperature down far below the average for the time of year. It seems we may need to pick up some warmer clothing while we're here.

Anyhow, despite the cold, we braved the conditions to enjoy a walk to Lake Rotorua late at night when all the stars were out. It's the first time we've really been able to see the night sky in all its glory for a very long time and the surroundings made it feel quite magical. We sat at the water's edge watching moths gathering by the lamplights and listening to the gentle ripple of the water at the lake's shore. The moon shone brightly lending the scene an ethereal, mystical feel. We hardly saw another soul - probably because it was so damn cold - so it felt like a really private and personal experience for us.

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Photos

Giant Gecko
Glynn tries unsuccessfully to catch a giant gecko for Jude!

Giant Spaghetti
They do catering sized tins of spaghetti in the local supermarket. Cool!

Moon River
The moon shines down on Lake Rotorua.

Moonshine
Moonshine of the non-alcoholic variety for Jude this time!

Lamplighter
Glynn lights up the night sky with his bare hands.

Karate Kid 1
The Karate Kid as performed by Jude.

Karate Kid 2
The Karate Kid as performed by Glynn.

Comments

[Linda]

Boo to the expensive internet time. Good to see photos still though, I had to look twice at that giant gecko before I quite realised what I was looking at. Glad you're still having magical experiences!