New Zealand Day 6

I knew where I wanted to go as soon as I woke up...Huka Falls! Everyone that I had met previously had talked about Huka Falls. You can drive right to it or hike. I chose to hike. I was a bit sore from my run and needed to work those muscles out. From my hostile to the falls was a little over an hour.

The clouds were clearing and the weather was improving so I decided to continue my hike after I made it to the falls. The scenery was incredible and I couldn't pass it up! However, I didn't plan on continuing so all I had was a bottle of water, that's it. No snacks or candy to keep my energy level up. I just told myself I would hike/run/walk an extra hour and no matter where I was I would have to turn around. That would total 4 hours. I know my body and knew that was the max time before I'd crash and burn.

While I continued the trail I ran into some of my most favorite/memorable places. I love these yellow flower bushes and they were all over!! They smelled so good too!

This tree reminded me of a cheerleader's pom poms.

This was cool. On one side it was plush green and on the other brown pine trees. I took pictures of each side as well as the drastic change you see at the fence line. It was only for about 1/2 a mile but so random.

While I was out there, by myself, I felt safe and tied to nature. I was grateful for its beauty.

On the way back my stomach started to growl. I would think of what I was having for lunch and how good it would taste and that would quiet it down for a bit.

I got back to the hostile, changed, packed up my things, including a lunch to go, and was out of there. I then stopped by Lake Taupo and sat for about an hour and enjoyed my lunch. I couldn't had asked for a better view.

Back on the road, I first had to stop at this church. They have the smallest churches there and nobody is ever at them. They're so small I wonder if they were part of a movie set.

I was heading west to Waitomo. It took about four hours to get there. The scenery was continuously gorgeous.

My destination was Kiwi Paka, Waitomo. I made it!

After my arrival to Kiwi Paka I met, Nell from the UK, one of my doom mates. She had told me on her travel bus was a girl who they were celebrating by having a costume contest with bin bags. (But of course with her accent it sounded like bean bags) I laughed and said how's that going to work out...after we figured out our difference in terms I found out it was a contest with garbage bags. Here's some of their work, very impressive I must add. They wore them all night long!

There was a local pub right next door to our hostile called Curly’s Bar.

They were such a fun group. I met a guy from Australia, Brent. We talked most of the night. Everyone called him Chief since during their Maori dinner that’s who they elected. He was very charming, responsible, funny, witty, interesting, kind, and I won’t lie, easy on the eyes. Another crush!

Some of us stayed till 5am and the last ones got in around 6am. I think Curly was one of them. He was still going strong when I left about 5am.