After, we headed to Tauranga. There was a small mountain near the town that Su said was really nice so we checked in to the Mt. Maunganui hostel. What a wonderful place! We had fresh muffins baked everyday by the owners and they were super friendly. The owner used to have a cattle farm with 400 cows, all by which were named, so that was why he said he could remember everyone's names who were staying there. Crazy!
The weather turned a little ugly the next day and I was feeling pretty tired from this sneezing cold I seemed to have acquired, so it was a low key day. I read my book and then walked into town in Mt. Maunganui to check out the shops. There were 2 stores that I could have easily drained my bank account in! Not only were they expensive, but I loved their clothes! So many beach wear and great pants, skirts/dresses that I could use for belly dance! I had to remember to just browse... and run out when temptation was getting to strong :) Later that evening I ended up in the TV lounge watching a little "trash TV" that a few girls were watching. Passed the time anyway.
The next day was better, the wind was moving the clouds quickly so that if it did rain, it went away just as fast. Su and I hiked up Mt. Maunganui to the summit. It was very nice to see the view of the town. Many sheep where along the bottom portion of the mount and some were newborns! Still covered in placenta, how cute! Lol! Su and I walked around the base of the mount as well and saw a kingfisher while telling stories to one another. 
We had a quick lunch before heading down to Rotorua. We checked into the Funky Green Voyager again and I stuck around the hostel chatting to people while Su went to the Polynesian spa. She warned me she'd be out late (as she is normally in bed around 9 pm) and she didn't come back till 11 pm! I was surprised she wasn't all shriveled up as a prune, after being there 5 hours! That woman loves her spas :)
The next morning, we drove to Wai -O-Tapo to see the geyser. The park official placed soap in the geyser and after a few minutes, the surfactant causes it to bubble and eventually erupt. It was neat to see, but would have been really cool to see it's natural eruption as it's much bigger. Unfortunately, it erupts fairly randomly so that's why they do the demonstration every morning.
Su went to see the rest of the park, and seeing how I already have done that, I hitchhiked back into town. I was on the road for maybe 3 minutes before a car pulled up. A nice German guy working in Auckland as a builder. He told me about his job and how he hopes to move to the South Island and find work in Christchurch since they need many repairs and new buildings from the earthquake. The city centre still needs a lot done.
He dropped me off near the hostel and then I decided to go for a walk in the Redwoods Forest again. I took a different track this time, the green one. It walks though the forest rather than around. Took 1 hour which was fine as it takes 40 mins to walk to the park from the hostel and rain was heading my way. I made myself dinner and Su and I planned for the next day.
We drove around the lake to Hamurana where there was a natural spring with Alama, from France, whom we met at the hostel. It was cold crystal clear water with lots of birds and really green vegetation. The spring itself could fill an Olympic pool 2 times an hour. Really neat!
We then dropped Alama off at the bus stop and went to see the Blue Lake, just outside the Redwoods park. We walked around the lake and attempted to eat lunch at the picnic table back at the car. It was such a windy day! I was trying to make my peanut butter and jam sandwich and my jar of peanut butter flew away! I tried to grab it and then off went my water bottle and my bread. Of course the peanut butter was already on the bread so it stuck to my water bottle before landing on the ground making such a mess! Glad I was by the lake to help clean up! We had to sit in the car to eat. At least the birds got a good snack. He he he.
We continued to drive to Taupo and stopped at the Huka Falls just outside of town. The water had that beautiful glacier blue colour. The water level was decent with the occasional rainfall and had some nice rapids. There were people on jet boats down below getting up close for a look. Amazing boats those are. Pretty powerful.
We checked into the Blackcurant backpackers hostel. The guy working there, Henry from England, was very charming and just pouring with enthusiasm! A pleasure to talk to. The hostel was extremely comfortable and clean. Su and I were planning to hike up the Tongariro Alpine crossing, which is around 19 km long, and would be a great day hike. For those of you who have seen Lord of the Rings, it'd be known as "Mt. Doom." But, since the day before we arrived, it started snowing up on the mountain making it very dangerous and impossible to see. So, no hikes. The forecast was stating awful weather for the next week, so didn't look like it would happen. Su and I thought, let's check the weather again tomorrow, as it changes here so fast, and go check out the natural hot water stream up the road for now.
It was a small stream that emptied off a little ledge (making a tiny fall) into the river. The river
was freezing! We'd try to be as close to the fall as possible, then get really hot and swim out towards the river. You could hear me squeak! Why did I do that, not once but 3 times? Right, supposed to be good for your circulation and most importantly, everyone else was doing it ;)LOl!There where 8 other people to come and go and they were all Irish. All nearby for the Rugby games.
After our refreshing dip, Su and I headed back for dinner and a shower and spent the night chatting with Cecilia, a nice girl from Taiwan who works at an animal shelter back home. We stayed up late and it was wonderful. Such great people.
The next morning didn't have any good news with the weather. Still no change. Su decided she should head back home. We said our goodbyes and I wished her all the best. I'm sure going to miss her!
I decided to pay for a day pass with the shuttle and check out a few free places. I went to the Huka Honey Hive where they had a colony of bees that you could watch through glass. You can also learn all about them by both a video that was on the TV or reading their wall posters. It was fun watching the bees do a little dance to communicate to one another where the flowers were.
There was also free tastings of all different kinds of honey (I like the lavender honey best), honey wine, juice concentrate with honey, mead and an Irish cream with honey. All very interesting. And guess what mom and dad! I actually liked the honey wine! It was pretty sweet.
I sampled 2 different body creams as there were dozens of different kinds. Honey does wonders for the skin.
My next stop was the Aratiatia Dam at 2 pm to see the dam open and watch the rapids. It was ok. Nothing too outstanding. Took a while for the water level to rise actually. Took 15 mins for the water to really flow through the channel.
I got picked up and dropped off at my final stop at the Lava Glass. I watched the artist make 2 different glass pieces. A vase and an ornament. It was warm in there! The furnace sits at 1060 Celsius 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. No wonder he was so skinny! He He. It was really neat to see. He had lots of his work on display in the shop for purchase. Neat how he could even put landscapes on some. He had one with trees and hills, another with waves from a river, and one with different volcanic plants. Amazing!
Once I got back to the hostel and made dinner, I met a few people. One girl, Debra from Belgium, I saw before in Rotorua, an Italian man named Giovanni, and 2 other men. Andreas from Germany and Sergio from Spain. We chatted for a while and talked about what each others plans were for the next day. There was a rugby game on (New Zealand vs Japan) that night and I think most of us staying at the hostel all crowded around in the lounge watching the game. I still didn't know all the rules but was doing my best to follow. I only asked a couple questions and only understood half of the answers. A few people had very strong accents making it difficult to understand what they were saying and I didn't want to interrupt everyone, so I just did my best to follow along.
The next morning was cloudy with some sunshine so I took advantage of the weather and hiked up the local Mount Tauhara. It wasn't maintained by the parks so the trail was very narrow and overgrown. I was warned to be careful as it can be dangerous when it's windy and wet, but I had no problems. I had proper hiking shoes and great hiking clothes so I was well prepared for the wet. Once near the summit the foliage changes. Instead of all the ferns and palms, I had more larger trees with tons of moss growing over it. So beautiful.
Once at the summit, I could see a big rain cloud coming so figured I needed to make my break a short one and get back under the tree cover. I only passed 3 other people that day going down the mountain. Not so many people go up when wet and slippery. I had maybe 2 mins of hail and 10 mins of rain on the way down, but once I got to the bottom and had to cross the farm field to the car park for pick up, it was sunny again.The shuttle dropped me off at the Debratts Thermal Spa. I spent about an hour there and walked back to the town. Took about 45 mins walking along the lakeside. It was very windy, but being in the 40 C spa had warmed me up so no problems there.
I spent my last day here just lounging around town window shopping. At dinner, Giovanni, Debra and I decided to go to a pub for a beer and watch another rugby game, Ireland vs Australia. I got to understand a little bit more with Giovanni explaining things. He was also heading to Wellington tomorrow and offered me a ride since I was wanting to head there to. So, plan is to leave tomorrow at 8:30 am. It's a 5 hour drive so it'll be great to have company :)
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