Travel Report Dec 13

Hey Everyone,

I’m a couple days behind on this one. I know. Why don’t we all make like Elsa and let it go (feel free to proceed to sing out loud, you know I am)?

Anyways, there was a lot of hiking this past week, as there was a noticeable jump in steps for a few days. And again, this graph is still pretty ugly, I didn’t get a chance to update it this week (read: I did have a chance, but I got lazy).

The first day of the week Elvis, Kyle, and I were coming off the Coromandel Peninsula finally and made it to the central part of the North Island. I used one of the days to run off to see Hobbiton while Elvis and Kyle hit up a library to look into some jobs / WWOOFing opportunities. They had already seen Hobbiton the first week we were all here. It was magical, of course. All I can say is go if you are at all interested. If you aren’t, it is understandable to miss. To each their own.

Rotorua was the next stop. Rotorua was a neat little city. An interesting downtown area made for good walking about. It also had a splendid night market with street food and people selling crafts which only goes on Thursday nights. The night market is a great way to spend a night. We stayed in a hostel here as well for the first time since we left Auckland, which was a nice change of pace. Even at the Buddhist center, we had gone with the camp-on-the-lawn option.

Unfortunately, there is one downside to Rotorua. It quite literally stinks. It smells like rotten eggs most of the time. The central part of the North Island is an active volcanic area, resulting in many natural hot springs and geothermal activity close by. This means the sulfurous smell pervades the city and a large swath of the surroundings as well. On the upside, all the volcanic activity makes for some good sightseeing.

There is also a redwood forest right near Rotorua, with a couple great half-day hikes. I took advantage of one before heading off to a campsite near Tauranga for the nice to do Mt. Maunganui the next day. Mt. Maunganui is not all that tall but offers a stunning view of the surrounding coastal town.

Having exhausted Rotorua’s must-dos, we proceeded on to Lake Taupo. Another nearby mountain prompted the third day in a row of long walks. Mount Tauhara was taller than Maunganui by a good amount.

Mt. Maunganui

The weather was not as friendly for Mount Tauhara. Hard to complain when I think it has rained approximately a total of three or four hours since I arrived a month ago.

There wasn’t much else to do in Taupo, so we scampered off to Napier where Kyle and Elvis had found a WWOOFing farm they were planning on staying at and I was going to regroup and do some research about what I wanted to do next and spend a day recovering after a couple busy days in a row.

Napier has a unique style to it. Art Deco, an early 1900’s visual style, permeates throughout the whole town. It gives the city a characteristic feel which compliments the coastline and atmosphere well. It is my favorite city on the North Island so far. It is not a very large town and provides a good balance of personality, quaintness, and hub-bub that I find appealing. I wasn’t in Napier twenty minutes when Kyle called me up and let me know him and Elvis didn’t like the farm and decided to head over to Napier as well. We ended up finishing out the week here being indecisive about what to do next (I’m measuring weeks Wednesday – Tuesday since I arrived in NZ on a Wednesday).

I’ll see you where the roads meet.