New Zealand Day 5

I woke with the sunrise so around 6ish. When into the lodge for a spell to use their internet. The gal in the kitchen that was cooking was so kind. When I asked her about it she just said here let me just log you into my account and don't tell anyone. It's been acting screwy for awhile.

Saa-weet!! I booked a place for that night.

Upon leaving I drove through town and like I said before NZ's hours are 9-5. Ghost town, however this is Sunday and it's family day there so everything is closed. Love that!! Remember how I mentioned how windy and crazy the roads were? Well this little sheep was standing in the middle of my lane when I was getting back on the main surface roads. Must have gotten loose but he quickly shimmied up the hill. They're really skiddish.

It took about 2 hours to get to Hunterville, arrived around 9:40 which left me time to chill, go get my race number, and use the restroom. The run didn't start until 10.

The line of people you see in the picture...yup we're the only crazy ones that are doing a half marathon. I've never been that little of a group, very intimidating, they were all locals!!

This is around the 5k mark, first water stop. About a mile up I saw this cow to my right. Luckily I took my camera during my run and had to stop to take a photo. Holy Oreo Cow!!

This was another view of my run. This was about mid way up the hill and that's when all hell broke loose with my nose. I think it was due to the elevation (at home I'm at only 25 feet above sea level). Pushing myself too much could have contributed to this as well. I've had nose bleeds at home from this. As you can see it didn't stop me. You just keep running and wipe the blood off the face as it comes.

At the 10k (6.5 mile) aid station I got some water and everyone was like are you okay, did you fall, should we call someone? I said nope just a nose bleed I'll be fine, have to keep truckin'. I waved and kept running. Then I hear in the background someone say Crazy American Girl! Yup! That's me!

After I went into the hotel you see behind me and took a sponge bath in their restroom and changed, I felt refreshed.

As I got into my car to head to the next destination I decided to change it up a bit. I was planning on heading west but I decided to head back up north to Lake Taupo and stay there. I just fell in love with that place while I was passing through.

About 45 min into my drive I came to Gravity Canyon in Moaki. I had checked out their website before my trip and thought, yes it's expensive but #1 if I'm in the area I'll do it and #2 you're in NZ live a little! So I did. I did the swing!

It actually helped out a lot! I was running on fumes and getting sleepy from a late night and having finished a hilly half marathon so the adrenaline kicked in and I was ready for my drive. I checked in and went and took a long hot shower. I was also reminded quickly co-ed bathrooms when the other two people that were showering were guys. Right!

I decided it was time to wash some dirty as well as stinky sulphur clothes. I put them in a long wash and still to this day with 5 washings...my clothes STILL smell like sulphur! RATS!!!

As you see below this was where I was staying for the night. Take a look at how close we were to the lake...just a few blocks away. One of my dorm mates invited me to go to the local pub with a bunch of people from her bus but after I ate dinner and got settled in I knew I wasn't going anywhere. She actually came back super early and all four of us in my dorm were asleep by 10pm and it felt great!!

New Zealand Day 4

Up with the sun I got up and showered and was ready for the day. There wasn't a lot of action going on at the hostile so I decided to go out for breakfast. Having experienced NZ for a few days I learned the country's hours are literally 9-5. Even their cafes don't open till 9:00. I didn't want a McDonald's breakfast but that's the only thing that seemed like it was open. I decided against it and went for a walk and stumbled upon a outdoor strip mall where there was a bakery that you could smell meters away! I got this roll with melted cheese and Canadian bacon on top with a water. The cashier said that'll be sixteen and I said wow $16 and she smiled, pointed to the register, and said no $6.10 but with the accent I heard sixteen. :0) Hehehe a little embarrassed I paid and shimmied out of there real fast!

There were a few places I wanted to visit in Rotorua before I scurried out of there to head south to Taihape. Staying at the hostiles they often have deals. I booked one for Hell's Gate. It was a self tour around their thermal active grounds, a mud bath, and a sulphur bath for $85. I knew I got a heck of a deal when I arrived at the entrance to check in and an Australian couple next to me ordered the same thing and their total was $310. The man was funny, he said $310? Crikey, I don't want to buy the place. I giggled under my breath. It amazed me that you can have green rolling hills and then bam! An active thermal ground right next to it.

The mud bath was my favorite. What tom girl who played with mud and dirt when she was little wouldn't enjoy this? I was in heaven!! There were two other girls in a different section and they were saying how gross it was. Again, I laughed. What were they expecting??

Once your time was up in the mud bath you had to take a cold shower and they warned you ahead of time. I had no idea how cold was cold...a couple that was in the next section over were showering and you could hear her screaming and him shouting how bloody cold it was. I geared up for my time. Let's just say it was the quickest shower I've ever taken.

Then off to the sulphur bath. True, it smelled just like sulphur but the entire location did. All the steam that you see in these and other pictures to come below all put off sulphur. Soaking in the sulphur bath I was able to enjoy the warmth of it, made my skin so soft, and was able to laugh at those taking their cold showers. Ahh the pleasures of others misfortunes. :0)

I lookd down at my watch and knew it was time to go. I had one more place to visit as well as a three hour drive to make it to my hostile by 5pm.

I showered and changed and was on my way. Side note: The one thing the employees did not warn me about...I would smell like sulphur for days.
I heard such wonderful things of Wai-O-Tapu and had to go. Alex, my dorm buddy,gave me a heads up about Lady Knox Geyser that goes off everyday at 10:15. He had already visited the grounds. It actually only does it naturally every 72 hours so the employees have to put baking soda in it to make it react for the crowd. He said the place is packed then. Knowing this info I decided to forgo the geyser and went later during the day. Hell's Gate first, then Wai-O-Tapu.

The picture of me standing there is actually a funny one. The sulphur that was being released was in such abundance the gal that took this picture of me had to wait for about a full minute for the sulphur steam to break. We were laughing so hard. It wouldn't let up, we were all engulfed in it. The shower I took at Hell's Gate had just been voided.

Back on the road I passed a place called Lake Taupo. It was breathtaking and kept asking myself why am I not staying here tonight. I can't express how gorgeous it was. The highway took me almost all the way around as I was driving south to Taihape.

All of a sudden you hit this...brown dessert. This is Tongariro National Park. NZ suprised me again. I had this dessert pictureque on one side this this beautiful mountian with snow one the other side. Amazing!!

Then about 45 minutes later your back in the green rolling hills again.

As I was getting closer to Taihape I saw a sign for River Valley Lodge, my destination. I didn't make reservations but knew there were a ways out there and figured I would be safe. The only thing was they closed at 5pm. Their signs were all over the place but I missed the very last one. The last 50 min to the lodge is windy roads so I missed the turn off. I kept going. The photo below you can see it's a gravel road I was on and if you look really close you can see the road.

"Lee", my GPS guide, didn't know what to make of it. For those that know me understand I have no sense for direction. When I feel like I should go one way that really means I probably should go the opposite. I was getting very frustrated because it was now 5pm. I saw a house and drove up to it on a hill and it was abandoned. I thought well if worse comes to worse...I know a place I can crash.

I turned around and went back till I found the sign again. Then the last 5k was on a steep downgrade gravel road. Now driving through all this gravel one of my rental car tire's was squealing. I got out twice to see if it was flat. Nope, it was fine, just squealing. Sounded like a rock got lodged in somewhere.

Once I got there I was in awe. It was breathtaking, better than I could have dreamed of. It's surrounded by tress, rolling hills, a water fall, and a river.

I arrived there at 5:30 and what a blessing the office was still open. She even told me perfect timing I was about to close up. She had a dorm room that sleeps 6 with only person in there at the time and it was a girl, Katarhina.

The place was huge. Take a look at the website. Amazing!

I met Katharina and told her I was going to take a shower because I smell like eggs from hanging out in sulphur all day. I went and showered and was quickly reminded this was a co-ed facility. In the next shower stall was a guy. I just looked over and said hello and continued. After, I could still smell it on my skin. I sprayed and lathered up with Bath and Body but I don't think it did much. I got my PJs on and headed back to the room.

Katharina and I then went to the kitchen in the lodge. I needed food since it had been awhile since I ate lunch and I was running a half marathon the next day. The plans were to have a decent dinner. We ate vegetarian keesh, soo good.

Katharina told me about a guy named Simon Ousager who she met on her plane from Hong Kong to Auckland. They were driving to the South Island together.

He's 24, marathon/triathlete, biologist working on his masters in microbiology, from Copenhagen, Denmark, and funny as all get out!! Yes, I had a crush!

There was a bunch of us that hung out in the lodge until about 1. In the black and white photo are two sheep herders that had been drinking a few. I just couldn't stop staring at his short shorts. The funny thing is you can't tell but his stripped socks were different colors too. Just an odd bird all together. The other farmer that is in the picture with Simon never spoke. I think the only thing I got out of him was his name is Ethan. I was joking around with him that when he's by himself he lets loose and loves to dance around.

I was telling Simon and Katharina about my balance bracelet and did the balance test on him. He's solid! I high fived him!

Off to bed since I had to leave early the next morning for my half marathon. This is was my view from my dorm.

New Zealand Day 3

Once again I was up with the sun. Everyone else was still asleep so I thought perfect time to jump in the shower. Their two younger kids were in bed when I arrived so I didn't want to scare them with my bed head right out of the gates. Rachael asked me the night before not to leave until I met the younger two, they'd want to meet me and hear my accent. After I showered I got dressed, packed up and sure enough their boy introduced himself and then went right into his parents' room and said mom she talks funny. I was thinking to myself, yea I get that back in the States too. :) Bishop Tata had already left for work but during our silly pose so you can see his picture above my right arm. The other oldest daughters were still in bed.

Rachael was ticked I took this while she was in her PJ's and not from the waist up but like I told her...#1 who's going to see this (hehehe) and #2 my camera is balancing on top of a cereal box.

That day my goal destination was Rotorua. I made a few random stops along the way. Glad I did, freedom of having my own car!

Along the highway I saw a sign that said Looking Glass Garden. Having a bit of a green thumb myself I thought this is going to be good. I got up to it and they didn't open till 10:00 and I got there a little after 9:00 so I went for a walk. Love the green rolling hills! I got back to my car about 9:40 and this older, tall, skinny lady walked up to me and said if you'd like to come to the garden you're welcome to come on in dear. (so kind!!)

The owners of the Looking Glass Garden was Gayle and her husband. They've been working on this for 23 years and everything in the pictures you see they did themselves minus the statues. A friend who's a professional carver did those. It was children's fairy tales themes like Little Red Ridding Hood, Humpty Dumpty, etc...with some Alice in Wonderland.

If someone asked me what does New Zealand smell like...easy...gardinias. My favorite flower!! You really had to be somewhat physically fit to go through this garden. It took me about 90 to see it all and as you can tell either I was going up or down.

The photo next to the flowers is a path looking up the Stair Way to Heaven. Look close...it goes really high. Gayle said that entire path was full of daffodils 3 weeks ago. Bummer I missed it.

At the top of the mount were the gates and St. Peter waiting for you. I gave him a hug.

I was getting hungry since my hike in the garden. I stopped at a town in the Bay of Plenty called Whakatane. Great shopping, food, amazing weather, and the beach right there. I took a picture of this shirt that I saw in a sporting good store and loved it. Found my size and took it off the rack. I glanced at the price $169.00 and put it right back on the hanger. What the??? I actually took another one down just to make sure it wasn't a typo. Sure enough...$169, yikes!

I went to the Bean Cafe for lunch. There I was complemented on my teeth. The lady at the counter asked if I was American just after I said hi. I asked how could you tell by just the hi? She said no, you have gorgeous teeth, all Americans that I've met have had beautiful teeth. Good thing I've continued to brush all these years. Didn't know I'd be impressing the Kiwis.

Back on the road and I couldn't have been more thrilled. We were stopped for a cattle crossing on the road. I had read all about it in every single NZ book but sure enough, live in person. On my way to Rotorua I stopped a few more times just for some photo opps.

I then saw a McDonald's and a light bulb went on above my head...drive thru where you have to order on the right hand side. So of course I ordered a medium coke and took a picture.

When I arrived to Rotorua I pulled up to my hostile which I call hoity toity. Seriously nicer than some of the hotels I've been to the in States. I checked in to my dorm that I shared to Alex from the UK and Tino from Germany. I asked what there was to do there at night and Alex told me he was getting ready to leave for a Maori dinner/experience and to ask the front desk if there's any others. I did and sure enough there was another dinner/show that night. A bus picked us up at the hostile where there was about 10 of us waiting and about 6 already on the bus. We had to pick a Chief on the way. Mike from Ireland was chosen to represent. There was another bus of visitors waiting there for us.

The Maori's came out to greet us chanting and sticking out their tongues but it's disrespectful to smile or laugh at them. They accepted us all and went into their village to learn of their ancestors.

I participated in a game which involves this stick I'm holding. In her right hand she's got a weapon they would use to crack open the skull or scalp an enemy. We all walked around a bit then they told us dinner was being uncovered. We gathered around and sure enough Cooks Jeremiah and Chase (which was funny to me since everyone else had an authentic name and here's Cook Chase) uncovered our potatoes and chicken.

Below is my dinner table. A couple across from me were two LA snobs, super cool Sherry from Portland next to me, Dan who was just chillin' with us during dinner, he worked there, and then a couple at the end from Australia. They were hilarious!!

After a bit of singing and dancing on our bus home thanks to Chief and Florence, our bus driver, some of our group from the hostile decided to head over to Lava, a pub. While others got their drinks on I got my dance on. I LOVE to dance!! There were two girls that weren't in our group at our table so I jumped on the table to cover them up during the picture. They had their backs to my back so they didn't even know. :)

I had a hard time falling asleep. No, I was tired, it was about 12:00 but as soon as I walked in my dorm room both Alex and Tino were snoring. I'm a very light sleeper. Around 2ish I finally fell asleep and about an hour later I was woken up from Tino not talking but screaming in his sleep in German. Scared the freakin' day lights out of me.