Alice’s Gap Year Travels

Wellington was pretty cool, the people were all very alternative and diverse and theres loads of little boutiques and vintage shops about so we spent a lot of our time there ‘window shopping’. It is also home to a massive museum called ‘Te Papa’ which took up a whole day as well with lots of Mauri culture and history. We had a coffee on Cuba street one afternoon too in a place called ‘Midnight Espresso’ where most of the staff are covered in tattoos and piercings and the walls are covered in old movie posters plus there are really good buskers all down that street. We stayed for 3 days.

 Taupo was a bit of a let down as we were planning to do the Tongaria Crossing from there which is a full day hike all around the mountains where they did a lot of the filming for Lord of the Rings and everyone says its spectacular BUT it was pouring with rain the whole time we were there which meant it was cancelled which sucked. On our second night there at about 7pm 3 kiwi guys from the North turned up having been on a hunting trip – head torches, knives, rifles… 😮 It was absolutely hilarious and they all slept with their guns under thier pillows. We headed out with them that night to watch some live bands etc and ended up in an Irish bar where once again, we saw a group of drunken men doing the Haka. (It seems to be a very regular occurance!) hahahaha. Anyway the next morning feeling a little bit worse for wear we said bye to the boys and jumped on the bus up to Rotorua.

Well, Rotorua STINKS… really bad, like egg. It’s due to all the goethermic activity and on the bus there we stopped at some hot mud pools which was pretty gross, i could NEVER live here although it is a pretty town. We arrived yesterday and went for a walk in the park and botanical gardens as the sun had finally come out. That evening we went to a ‘Mauri Cultural Experience’ evening, they pick you up on a bus around 6ish and drive you out to a replica Mauri Village out in the bush. Everyone is dressed traditionally and it starts as if we were all a tribe coming to greet their tribe which was pretty scary as they all ran out with spears and were shouting and stuff. Then 2 men who had been nominated our chiefs had to take part in a little ceremony showing we were ‘friends not foe’ before we were allowed to enter into their village. We walked around the village and learnt all about their way of living etc. then went inside where they performed a Haka as well as many traditional songs and dances for us. After this was the best part…FOOD. They put on a feast for us which has been cooked in a Hangi (underground), there was chicken, fish, lamb, potatoes, carrots, freash bread, salads – it was sooo good and we all ate far too much!

Today we slept in then headed to the Polynesian Spa down by the lakes where we soaked in the hot pools for a few hours (even though at first we felt sick due to the SMELL) and then this evening we went down with our roomates to the hostel bar where a guy played an acoustic set all night – it was beautiful and we were a bit in love with him and his talented ways haha!

Tomorrow we’re going to go and see a new Kiwi film at the cinema called ‘Boy’ which is supposed to be really funny.

Will keep you updated XXXX 

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