We come from the land down under

"The truth is rarely pure and never simple" -Oscar Wilde

Lot's has happened since June 1st. Starting with last Thursday, June 3rd- a pretty eventful day :)
Leah and I scheduled massages at the cosmetology training school. It was $30NZD (about $20USD) for a one-hour, full body massage. It was great! My back has really been bothering me so it was nice to get a budget priced massage in.
We then went to Coyote, a little bar/restaurant on Courtenay Place for lunch followed by a lovely film: SEX AND THE CITY 2. I had been anxiously waiting for it to come out in NZ. Penny (Leah's new flatmate- sweet girl!) came with us. It was a great afternoon.
Also, it was Katie's 21st birthday back home in Vermont!!!!! I wish I could've made it to celebrate!! My friends here and I went out that night and I made them have a tequila shot for her (surprise, Katie!).
Friday morning, I left for Rotorua:
Kelsi was on the bus to her hometown for the weekend. So it was nice to have a bus buddy! It was about a 7.5 hour bus ride. However, I didn't really mind it. We watched a few movies and the scenery was beautiful! We passed a mountain with lots of snow on it and the volcano that is represented in the Lord of the Rings quite a bit. And yes, HEAPS OF SHEEP! It's funny.. the mountains and hills are so steep but somehow, the sheep just post right up. It looks like the might roll down but they really can control themselves. My friend joked and said that's why the meat is better here.. haha, could be true!
But $35 NZD ($20USD) was totally worth it to see all the scenery and make it to Rotorua!
Britta (international from NJ) met me in Rotorua on a later bus. So I got off the bus and had a few hours to figure out the hostel situation etc. Instead, I headed to the water and caught a beautiful sunset and gave my big sissy a phone call.

Then I realized, it's dark, I'm backpacking alone, and have yet to find a hostel. I kind of made some moves and searched around town and came across one that was legit and worked out a little deal. I walked to the bus station and some Maori man just started talking to me. He was not harmful, maybe just had a little mental condition. New Zealanders make fun of the Maori accent because they talk like "bros". ie: "cheya bro, i wen dow to da mawket" something like that. Anyways, he asked what planet I was from (yes, planet) and asked if I had children. I said no and started laughing and he said he had never met an American woman without children. I thought that was kind of funny. After what seemed like ages, Britta arrived! We went to the hostel, dropped her stuff off, went to dinner, and passed out! We intended to wake up at 7:30 to start our only day in Rotorua but my "lovely" NZ crap phone turned off and my alarm didn't go off. I woke up around 8:30 and we were able to start our day at a reasonable travel time. We hopped on the bus to go to the Redwood forest. It was "world environmental day" and they gave us free fares. Awesome. Nothing (really, nothing) is free in New Zealand. We even have to pay for a size of sauce out to dinner.
Decades ago, the land was not able to be used for agriculture. People were trying to figure out the reasoning and brought a variety of species into the forest to determine what thrived best. Redwoods were quite successful! It was nice to be out of the Wellington city and breathing fresh forest air. I can't even describe that. So refreshing and just amazing.

Rotorua is built upon a volcano crater. So there are sulfur and mineral pools all over with geysers. It's so cool! In the middle of the park there will be a spot with boiling mud. I touched the acidic mud and it made my finger quite soft after. It's funny to see a little pit/pool of boiling water just in the middle of green grass. I took a video of it because it sounds like tea kettle. Something I've never seen before.

We then went to the Polynesian Spa. At the spa, there are five hot pools, two sulfur and three mineral. It was only $21 for admission to all. They were all full of natural water from the overlooking water.
It was awesome! We were really dehydrated from all of it. Also, there were little flakes of sulfur in them which was very cool. My skin was (and still is) very soft from all of that. We then walked around for a few minutes to catch out bus to Taupo.
And I ALMOST forgot to include the scent of Rotorua. If you can imagine: sweat with rotten eggs, that's it. It's from the natural pools and sulfur. However, I did get used to it and it was not bad.
On to Taupo. They were hoping to skydive the next day. We dropped bags off and went out to dinner. The restaurant was pretty cool. An Irish bar with great prices. What more could I ask for?
Then back to the hostel. The weather was iffy so we were trying to think of stuff to do if skydiving was cancelled. No ideas. Leah, Jarad, and I didn't really sleep. There were three other Germans in our hostel room and they were deep breathing and snoring all night. And, their skydives were cancelled!
I was up early and need some breakfast. I decided on having my first "Maccas" (McDonalds) breakfast. I feel like everyone needs to have experienced that at least once and I'm glad I had! It was yummo! I met up with the group again and we headed off to wander Taupo. It turned out being a fun day. We had to get past the rain-factor and enjoy our one time in Taupo. We shopped, went to a coffee shop, and went out to lunch. Last of all- KAFFE EIS! That is our favourite Gelato shop in Wellington and they had it in Taupo, It was great to experience it in a new location :)
Taupo is an hour south of Rotorua. It had a large lake and is popular for tourists.. often in the summer months. I preferred Rotorua though! Rotorua has a lot of culture to it. It's actually the one town/city in New Zealand that has a lot of indigenous people. It was cool to see and experience all of that.
We had a great trip back. The bus was pretty empty which was nice. Also, there was a Maori lady swearing and screaming on the phone which was hilarious at the beginning of the trip. It was hilarious and Jarad actually took a video of it.
So I've had the opportunity to travel a lot of the North Island and am ready for my South Island adventure! One week from Thursday. And actually today is my 3 week mark. I leave New Zealand three weeks from today! I'm excited/anxious to get home but also, am going to miss the lifestyle here. It will all even out!

A few photos from the trip: