28 DAYS IN NEW ZEALAND - ROTORUA-WAITOMO-TAUPO

Lily and me at Lake Taupo

Sunny, partly cloudy, 20^th July 2010, Tuesday, Yes, I was ready for the adventurous activity today. After departed from Rotorua, we went ahead to Waitomo, glow worm caves, which is 30 million years old. There are few activities you can do here like black water rafting, abseiling into cave, and glow worm cave walking. I chose the glow worm cave walking while I worried the black water rafting will too freezing to me. Unfortunately, I chose the wrong activity while I didn’t see any special on the walking. I will say black water rafting will be more fun. Maria told me it was fun and she saw massive of glow worms L. Anyway, the walk wasn’t too bad. After the walk, we head toward to Huka Fall, a stream of throwing over 200,000 litres of water each second. Those in for an adrenaline rush will have the chance to try out the jet boat on the Huka river. We make the rest stop in Taupo, situated on the edge of a lake bigger than Singapore. Taupo is a small town, nothing much we can do here except lake walk. It is a lovely town to relax and retire. At night, I cooked dinner with my Hong Kong friends, Carol and Ivan. We make T-bone steak as our dinner and it was absolutely delicious.

Picture from up to down: entrance of the cave, Huka Falls and T-bone Steak

28 DAYS IN NEW ZEALAND - AUCKLAND - THAMES - ROTORUA

Sunny, 19^th July 2010, Monday, it was my first day with Magic Bus. Glen was my bus driver, cum tour guide for the North Island journey. He is a fun guy with always repeat “Sweet As” at his mouth. I reckon he speaks more than 100 times of “Sweet As” in a day. When I stepped in the bus, I couldn’t understand what the meaning of “Sweet As” is while he was talking with me. I tried to skip and ignore him. But, he don’t let me go until I response the same the same word– “SWEET AS”. Hey Hey! This is the first new word I learn in Kiwi Island. It means “cool” or “good”

Piture from Left to right - LP bottle, Redwood Forest, Museum of Rotorua

I missed out of the scenery view of Mt Eden while I waited the bus at Manuka Shopping Mall bus station at nine in the morning, where is a stop in between Mt Eden and Rotorua. The first place we went was L&P bottle. This is a typical NZ drink where it only sells in New Zealand, “NO EXPORT”. This is the place where “all of us” met and started our friendship. I met Matleena from Finland, Carol and Ivan from Hong Kong, Maria from Canada, Elodie from France and Lily from Japan. The bus went ahead to town Hobbiton. If you are the fan of LOTR, you can have a chance to take the picture with the statue of Hobbiton and you can join the optional Hobbiton tour. Sorry, I am not the fan of LOTR. The bus spent 20-30 minutes in the town and then we go ahead to Rotorua, where Maori culture and thermal activity combine to make a very unique destination. Rotorua is also famous in hot spring. I chose an unusual activity where I have never done before – Mug Bath. This is also a place where our friendship was getting better. Maria, Elodie, Matleena and I were the only person joined the mug bath, and it is also a place where strengten our friendship. We had lots of fun in the dirty shower. Before we get into the mug bath, Glen took everyone into the stunning Redwood Forest. The forest is really amazing with the mature redwood. We took lots of stunning pictures, with the stunning redwood trees, and stunning people. Super cool!!

Picture from left to right - Lake Roturoa, Mug bath

I spent first night in YHA Rotorua(Good).