The last few days in New Zealand have been speckled with action-packed adventure and low-key hanging out, which so far seems to me to be the "Kiwi way." :) The last day I wrote on Friday the 15th, I ended up laying low in the Kiwi Paka Hostel in Rotorua with my friends Surekha from the UK, Roelie and Nanik from Holland. Combining our wits, talents and creativity in the kitchen, we transformed a regular pasta dish into a fancy shmancy meal complete with flowers on the table, two bottles of cheap Aussie wine, a few different spices scavengered from fellow travelers, and toilet-paper table runners and napkins proudly displaying our names. It was hilarious and too much fun, considering how excited we were about our meal which back at home would have been pretty uneventful. I decided that it no longer felt like New Zealand, but rather an "international land of happiness." :)
Saturday the 16th we were quite pleased to get out of Rotorua on our Magic Bus, though we admitted that we had a great time. Our Kiwi driver whose knickname is Thumper completely cracked me up, and though I was sitting about four rows back on the bus, he and I carried on a lively conversation as we drove through the rolling green hills, mostly making outdated jokes about why Americans elected President Bush. One of his first comments was that we were going to experience the delight of meeting his mother during our drive that day-- and that "what she does she has to do, and it doesn't hurt." I thought it was an inuendo-laiden riddle, but it turned out that his mum is a bunny-shearer! Most of us had previously heard of New Zealand's second favorite sport to rugby, sheep-shearing, but bunny-shearing was definitely a shocker. We watched as Thumper's mom tied a bunny down and then proceeded to shave its back, belly, ears and tail-- it was pretty hilarious once we got over how strange it was!
After that we headed to Waitomo, famous for underground caves filled with glow-worms. I opted out of the $30 tour in the dark, and instead happily hiked around the caves with another friend I met from London named Julie. The views of a passing stream, verdant plants and bushes, and occasional caves were gorgeous!
Finally at 1pm we hopped back on the bus and headed to Taupo, home of the biggest crater-lake in the world by which the city gets its name, Lake Taupo. At 616 square kilometers, it's bigger than the entire country of Singapore, and everywhere you stand near the lake you can look around and see that you are within the crater of an ancient volcano. Although it's a beautiful city, I was excited to arrive because Taupo is also the site where I had signed up to go bungee jumping! Since Thumper and I had established a good rapour, he realized that I was the only one on my bus of 30+ who had signed up, and proceeded to tease me in front of everyone about how scary my jump was going to be. I wasn't that nervous for the 48 meter jump, since I've bungee jumped three times before in California (admittedly at a lower height), but I WAS excited to potentially dip into the water up to my ankles! The best part was definitely the anticipation of jumping off the ledge, and while I only dipped in up to my arms since the water level was low, it was still a blast.
After that, we headed back to our hostel and I went for a four-mile run around the lake, taking in the beautiful scenery and reflecting upon the great time I'm having in New Zealand with my new friends. I'm excited that two days from now I have identified my WWOOFING host, a Bed and Breakfast called Vistara in Nelson on the Southern Island, a.k.a. "sunniest place in New Zealand." I'll be working on their organic farm and helping them to prepare for a mediation retreat taking place the following week, which seems pretty great, and the hosts Bruce and Guruvati, seem wonderful from my email correspondence. Although I'll be sorry to leave my friends from the Magic Bus, I'm really looking forward to some down time and getting to know the locals! 
No comments:
Post a Comment