Today was ANZAC day in Oz and NZ. Didn't really affect me in any way besides the shops not being open till lunchtime! But it was cool that I was here though eh?!
Ben got up for work this morning about 7 and as my bed was effectively in the kitchen under the stairs, I chatted to him while he was making his breakfast. Hannah and Marcus got up a bit later and I had a quick chat with them before getting up myself. I washed and dried a load of washing while planning what to do with my day. I opted for Rotorua and a thermal park.
Upon leaving the house I realised I probably didn't have enough fuel to get me there and so I stopped at a petrol station. It was here that I encountered my first problem as a solo traveller. The fuel cap. TEN minutes I spent on the forecourt trying to get the b****** thing open. I was in the car, out the car, in the car, out the car. It wouldn't push open and I couldn't for the life of me find a latch inside the car. I broke into a slight sweat as it was dawning on me that I may now have a car that I couldn't refuel! s*** on it!! There was no manual either so I was running through a list of possible solutions. That didn't take long so, looking like a complete fugget, went and asked the lady in the petrol station. 'You oright there lav?!' she asked me. 'Actually no, no I'm not. I can't get the bloody fuel cap off' was my reply. She'd clearly been watching me and took pity on me so came out to help. She checked it wouldn't push open and then looked inside the car. It took her no more than 10 seconds to find the latch. 10 seconds!! It was tucked right by the door to the side of my seat. I was so relieved that I forgot all about what a retard I'd been, called her an angel and said thanks. I'm not sure if Mauris believe in angels but I'm sure she knew what I meant. So with my s***box full of juice I was on my way.
The sat nav took me the shortest way I guess, which involved driving through Mangorewa Gorge which was a pretty drive, if not a little scary. Only took about an hour to get to the information centre which wasn't too bad. I asked for advice on the best park to go to and the helpful lady gave me several options. I picked Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland as she said it was the most colourful. To do all 3 walks they said would take about 75 minutes so I tried to beat that and managed to do it in 60! Was really pretty and saw some really cool stuff but the smell of bad eggy farts was a bit too much by the end. Not a great lover of sulphur! One part actually stank so much it got in the back of my throat and made me gag. Disgusting. Anyway, I enjoyed the walk and seeing stuff so it was worth it. I went back via the Skyline and went up the gondola so I could see out over Rotorua. I got in the cable car, on my own (they seat 8) and the photographer asked if I wanted my picture taken. I muttered something about Nicky No Mates and said no thanks. We had a laugh about it thankfully but he definitely thought I was a loser. Good job he couldn't see my car!! The gondola was cool and had some good views. Was a lot of money for 7 minutes up, 7 minutes down. I've had longer highs from a packet of smarties. It was something to do though and it was worth doing. Better to regret the things you've done rather than the things you haven't.
I then started my drive home again, back to The Mount. I was just driving back through the gorge when our last contiki coach song, Set It Off, came on the radio. I turned it up and it bought back looooads of memories, gave me some serious goosebumps! Pretty cool though. I chilled when I got back and had a look at where to head to tomorrow. Shane and Krishma had text me to say they were nearby and would be in Wellington on Friday for a few days. So I jiggled my plans slightly so I'm staying in the same hostel as them Friday night and we're going out for dinner! Sweet! Be good to see them and share kiwi stories and plans. Tomorrow I'm heading to Lake Taupo and staying there the night so I can get a good nights sleep before the 4-5 hours drive down to Wellington.
We ordered pizza tonight and got a DVD. Only the DVD wouldn't work so they spent the best part of an hour trying to jailbreak the DVD player to play different region DVDs. Was very funny and the night was saved by crumble and banana icecream! We watched a bit of Jersey Shore before everyone turned in for the night.
You'll be pleased to know this brings me fully up to date with my blogs and I have written today's events, today. That's not happened in a while! New Zealand lends itself to the laid back characters such as myself so I'm finding more time to take everything in and update my blogs as I go. So no more abuse texts or messages please!.....