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  Rotorua, New Zealand
Wednesday, March 19, 2008

So we we caught the bus to Rotorua 9still shakey from falling from the sky!) and sat right in the front by the bus driver. As we were getting into the city...town?...another passenger came up and was asking the driver about a specialty drop off and all of a sudden we hit a duck! Not a pleasant thing to see. We were a little horrified with our prime seating but managed to not a make a scene. When traveling to Rotorua, you know when you've arrived by the lovely smell that assaults your nose. This place is known for its natural geysers that bubble and boil all over town. They smell like sulpher but you sorta get used to it right away. We had made reservations by phone in Wellington for one of the two X-bases in town. When we got to ours, we asked the receptionist and she had no reservation. She called the other hostel but their reception had closed for the night...at 7:30! She ended up having beds available so we hauled our stuff up to the room and found a huge dorm. It was a big room with a bathroom and 4 beds in the main room and then another 4 in each of the side rooms. We found our beds in one of the side rooms but then discovered that the doorknob was missing. What a crap place. The bathroom was awful and the shower had about 3 streams of water coming out of the head and it didn't drain. GROSS!! Maybe we were just hungry...you all know how we are when we get hungry, and if you only know one of us, we're both grumpy-monkeys when we need food. Watch out! So we went down the street, bypassed the Hungry Mole, and went into Lonestar. After checking out the menu, we decided there was nothing that we really wanted so we sneakily asked the host for a recommendation on a pasta place. I know we're awful. He sent us to this place with fabulous pasta but they ended up turning the lights out on us as we finished up our drinks! It was only 9:30. We've closed down bars before but never a restaurant! At least the realized that we were still there and apologized. So we took off and made our way back to the hostel, not without coming across some creeps though. First we thought there was just one but then another one appeared. We think they could have been twins. They tried to talk to us and then got up and started following us. Good thing for us, they were slow and we power walked/ran our asses off. We ducked into the bar next to our hostel and tried to hide behind a group of people. Thankfully we lost them. Since we were already at the bar though.....we grabbed a beer. Shocked, aren't you? We grabbed a seat on the patio and ended chatting with some locals. We then remembered that all the X-bases give you 2 for 1 coupons for beer at their bars when you check in and we hadn't used any of ours yet. And this my friends is how backpackers get to go out and have a good time and not spend much money.

As you can guess, the next morning was not the best we ever had. We tried to eat our leftover pizza but it was really difficult trying to pick all the bits of napkin off of it. Damn Karma. So we went downstairs to see if we could book the black water rafting through the Waitomo caves. We were super pumped as the "lovely" receptionist from the night before said we could book it in the morning. What she failed to tell us is that the caves are an hour away and the bus there left at 7. Boo! We still had time to make it there if we could find some other kind of transportation so it was off to the info center. We started making calls to see if we could rent a car for the last part of our trip and take it up the coast. Well we called at least a dozen places that denied us because we weren't 21. So still a little determined we decided while walking down the street to pop into this little hostel to ask the man behind the counter if he knew anything we didn't. BINGO!! What a wise man, he's ran that hostel for something like 17 years and knows everything! He convinced us that the caves suck and to do this other white water rafting that day just outside of town. Then he called up the first rental place he saw in this book and reserved us a car for the next day. He also somehow convinced us to catch the 3:30 am bus outta town to pick up the car in Auckland. After tons of thanks we grabbed some lunch and swimsuits and waited for the shuttle bus.

On the way to the site, we chatted with some Irish girls who were kayaking the same river. When we arrived at the site, we changed into our suits and also threw on some shorts and a fleece sweater. The staff fitted us with life jackets, helmets and wetsuit boots. They gave us a quick lesson on how to paddle and then it was off to the river. The water felt pretty warm for us Canadian girls. We all hopped into the rafts, there were 3 of us in one raft with 2 guides and a group of 6 people with 2 guides in the other, as well as 2 two-person kayaks. The rafting was soo much fun! we even jumped out and swam at one point. There were a few small waterfalls and a seven meter waterfall! How awesome is that? At the end of the route they got us girls to sit in the very front of the raft and then paddled us into one of the smaller waterfalls. basically the water pounds down on you and you almost drown....but we just sat there and couldn't stop laughing, in between sputtering breaths of course. After completely soaking us, we all piled out of the boat and had to carry it back up to the van. they're kind of awkward to carry especially with us being the tall ones in the middle and have short people in the front and back. We made it back in one piece though and thats what really counts.

After an exhausting afternoon, we were taken back to the hostel and we decided to tan/sleep on our balcony. We lazed about for quite some time and chatted with the girls in our room, one of them was actually a nurse in Calgary! She lived right by Chinook mall, crazy! We then decided that it was time for food and headed back to Lonestar. Not for another recommendation! We actually stayed and ate today. The food was quite good and we thanked our favorite host again. We had to hurry and rush back to the hostel to make it back in time for the second part of our Wife Swap episode. After sweet talking some of the boys in the TV room we were able to enjoy a drama filled episode! We also met an English guy and Paul, a good ol' Saskatchewan boy. They joined next door for a beer and we learned a little about cricket. Everyone was kicked out of the bar at midnight though, as it was now officially Good Friday. We were just hanging around outside when we met a fairly intoxicated local Maori  man. He was hilarious and as soon as he found out we were Canadian he informed us that his wife was Canadian! Unfortunately she was eaten by a bear, and he now has nobody to make his eggs. Haha even though there are no bears in Alaska...err New Zealand. That was quite a laugh. But then we headed 'home' for a quick nap before we caught the 3:30 am bus to Auckland. We ended up making it to the bus stop on time, but unfortunately the bus was an hour late! Boo! So we sat in the cold street waiting when we could have been in our crappy dorm, but warm bed. We ended up sleeping the entire way to Auckland, and the bus ended up being another hour later than expected. After another confusing city bus ride we made it to the rental shop on time to pick up our car. Finally!

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