Sunday, June 19, 2005
Rotorua
Soundtrack: “Here Be Monsters” by Ed Harcourt
Friday 10th June. Everything ran perfectly to plan: I even got to the bus terminus 30 minutes early. Then I realised that I’d accidentally binned my bus pass the night before, thinking that it was yet another leaflet telling me how much there was to do in Auckland. Not good. I legged it back to the Camel and disturbed Simon and KT having sex to rummage through the dustbin. Out on the street, I realised that I had 15 minutes to run back up the hill and I knew that I was spent, so fortunately a taxi appeared across the street and I made the bus.
The drive to Rotorua was shrouded in mist, so I couldn’t see much of the scenery, which was a shame. The town (apparently it’s a city) itself looks fantastic, which makes up for the sulphur. The hot springs mean that there’s steam shooting out of the ground in all sorts of places, and there are also verdant green hills and a glistening blue lake.
Arriving early in the afternoon, I had time to go up to Te Puia, which houses the thermal reserve (where all the hot springs and mud pools are) and a Maori marae. I had a good look around, and I really enjoyed myself. Even though there were a whole bunch of idiot ignorant spoilt rich American schoolkids on my tour of the place. For example, we were just coming to the kiwi reserve, so our guide was giving us a little background on the odd little creatures.
“How are they related to the fruit?” asked one of the schoolgirls.
“They look the same,” replied the guide.
“You mean they’re green?”
Back at Hot Rock Hostel, I swam 100 lengths of the teeny tiny pool that was ridiculously to swim in. The hostel management had decided to utilise the town’s hot springs to provide a heated outdoor pool, and it was really cool, swimming in the dark. I liked that backpackers, basically because I managed to get a room to myself and I could have an okay sleep that night.
Friday 10th June. Everything ran perfectly to plan: I even got to the bus terminus 30 minutes early. Then I realised that I’d accidentally binned my bus pass the night before, thinking that it was yet another leaflet telling me how much there was to do in Auckland. Not good. I legged it back to the Camel and disturbed Simon and KT having sex to rummage through the dustbin. Out on the street, I realised that I had 15 minutes to run back up the hill and I knew that I was spent, so fortunately a taxi appeared across the street and I made the bus.
The drive to Rotorua was shrouded in mist, so I couldn’t see much of the scenery, which was a shame. The town (apparently it’s a city) itself looks fantastic, which makes up for the sulphur. The hot springs mean that there’s steam shooting out of the ground in all sorts of places, and there are also verdant green hills and a glistening blue lake.
Arriving early in the afternoon, I had time to go up to Te Puia, which houses the thermal reserve (where all the hot springs and mud pools are) and a Maori marae. I had a good look around, and I really enjoyed myself. Even though there were a whole bunch of idiot ignorant spoilt rich American schoolkids on my tour of the place. For example, we were just coming to the kiwi reserve, so our guide was giving us a little background on the odd little creatures.
“How are they related to the fruit?” asked one of the schoolgirls.
“They look the same,” replied the guide.
“You mean they’re green?”
Back at Hot Rock Hostel, I swam 100 lengths of the teeny tiny pool that was ridiculously to swim in. The hostel management had decided to utilise the town’s hot springs to provide a heated outdoor pool, and it was really cool, swimming in the dark. I liked that backpackers, basically because I managed to get a room to myself and I could have an okay sleep that night.
