Day 10- 12th November

Woke up this morning and Lily's nose was still bleeding. Another backpacker in the hostel happened to be a practicing doctor, who had a look at Lily's nose and recommended she went to the hospital.
Rotorua is famous for its volcanic activity, but in particular, the 'geothermal wonderland', Wai-o-Tapu, is a hot tourist attraction. Emma and I managed to jump in on a lift with another Dutch back backer who was heading the same way, and saved ourself $30-40 on a shuttle bus. The only problem was getting back, but we would come to that later.

On arriving at the park, we were in a bit of a rush to get tickets as we wanted to see the lady Knox geyser which erupts every day at 10.15. However, we made it to the geyser and settle down on the wooden steps, shaped like an amphitheater. At 10.15, instead of an eruption, a little man popped out and poured some soap into the top of the geyser, which started frothing and then shot up 15m or so into the air. It was a bit disappointing to say the least- I was at least expecting the geyser to be able to do it's own eruptions.

Someone's head ruining my photos...

Fortunately, the rest of the park did no disappoint. We walked along path ways through the steamy, craggy terrain, through ferns, orange moss, and the highlight- the coloured, geothermal pools. Some of them were fairly average, but a couple of the pools were so vividly coloured, they looked artificial (I've been assured that they're natural).

My phone is way more interesting than this green pool

These pools got up to around 100 degrees and were really kicking out steam, which could have been quite nice as it was quite a chilly day, however there is nothing nice about getting a face full of smelly, eggy steam.

Grin and bear it

We went around the park with the Dutch guy, and we all had a drink together in the park café before saying goodbye and heading our separate ways. We decided to to hitch hike back to Rotorua, as we figured that lots of people would be heading back in that direction. Not really sure what to do, we headed down the road to the exit of the park, sticking out our thumb to any passing car. Some ignored us, some just laughed at us, but after about 5 minutes, a Land Rover pulled over and a middle aged woman stuck her head out of the window and asked where we were going. Turned out we were all
going the same way so we jumped in the back.

Family

They were two English ladies who had lived in New Zealand for the last 10 or so years and gave us loads of information and tips on what to do whilst we were here. One was fairly well to do, and the other was a bit more rough and ready. They raved about Wellington where we are headed in 3 or so days, so we're looking forward to that. To be honest, everyone we have met is much more enthusiastic about the South Island, which makes me glad we started in the North as things can only get better.

We arrived back at the hostel to find Lily, and then went out into town to have a little wonder round and see the government botanical gardens. I think I'll end this blog post here as it promptly started raining after we had set foot out of the door and the afternoon was pretty grim. And the government gardens were tiny. However, one thing I will mention is the poet we met on the street. He sold me two poems and told me the human race was doomed. He was a cynical guy, but he was interesting and quick minded, and I would have liked to speak longer to him, but it was raining and I don't think the others were particularly keen on hanging about! I'll attach a copy of the poems below.