The Journey, Part 4

Upon arriving at Rotorua after 30 hours of straight travel, we were told that we had twenty minutes to unpack our things before our first group meeting in the dining hall. We all dragged ourselves into a large meeting room where we were randomly assigned rooms with three other people. At this point, anything resembling a bed sounded great, no matter how many people shared a room with me. The weather hadn't taken any dramatic change from home for a land mass south of the equator; it was about 60, sunny and windless. I got by wearing shorts. I sacrificed last place in line to get food so that I could take a blessed 10 minute hot shower, barely having time to unpack my essential toiletries. The difference in my mindset before and after the shower was like night and day. I was still fatigued, but the feeling of cleanliness gave me an equally sharp and prepared state of mind. We were given a quick program introduction, rundown of the itinerary for the next three days, and then let loose to walk the town and/or buy anything essential.

Rotorua is a big "tourist town" due to its geothermal vents and its growing market for tourist capitalization. Geothermal vents sound fun and exciting, and they certainly all of these things. One thing that the brochure will not tell you, however, is that due to the high level of sulfur excreted by these vents, the entire city smells like bad hard boiled eggs. All the time. The smell never escapes you and it never lessens in certain areas. In fact, it can only get worse, as I myself upon a few occasions stepped into a concentrated air bubble containing 10x the normal egg smell. Take an egg, boil it, take the shell off, and let the egg sit there for a couple weeks. When you've done this, inhale. You've just taken a whiff of Rotorua. Keep this smell in the back of your mind while reading the rest of my account concerning the next three days.

This being said, I have to say that Rotorua was a very beautiful place. Kiwipaka was placed behind a large rugby field, and we cut through the field to find our way to the main part of town. Alongside the field was a beautiful pond and vent structure that was maintained and dedicated to two tragic lovers of ancient native folklore. I do not remember their names, but Crutchie gave us the rundown on the bus. It was a very sad story. Here's the place:

P.S. They filmed some Rivendell scenes here. Not to name drop.

Here's some pictures I snapped while walking through town.

Given the already "peculiar" and abnormal scent, the town also had a strange vibe about it that I still can't explain. I was still feeling a bit of the "twilight zone" thing; these feelings may have just been due to my extremely disoriented state of mind at the time. Few of the buildings were very tall at all and they were oddly dispersed. The sky had a strange tinge and there were beautiful mountains everywhere on the horizon. I found a very peculiar and fascinating display of nature as the sun began to set. Hundreds of birds were flocking to and perching on two particular trees. No other trees were paid any mind, but these birds galavanted around these two trees as if they were in some sort of magnificent choreographed dance. I caught this video right at dusk and they acted as if they were being paid to be photographed. It was perfect.

There were a couple really cool and unique finds while walking through town. Among these was the single coolest establishment ever invented. This place was a combination of the two greatest achievements/inventions of the human race, and the first official indication of just how cool New Zealanders are. I know I shouldn't even have to expand upon this because you've already guessed it, but I'll reveal it to you nonetheless: That's right, it's a rock climbing gym/movie theater. AND it was a Cafe/Bar As if my mind hadn't been blown enough.

To your extreme right, you're seeing movie posters. And forward is a rock climbing wall. Best thing ever.

I had to go to a local electronics store because I was informed AFTER i'd gotten to the country that New Zealand literally uses a different electric outlet for its appliances. I had thought it was just a case of different voltage. I was lucky and found a reasonably priced converter. For curiosity's sake, here's the shape of the New Zealand (and I think Australian) wall outlet:

It's like the American outlet but very, very sad.

Getting back to kiwipaka yielded some undesirable results as the rugby field had become wet and muddy, and my shoes aren't perfectly insulted. After changing my socks (Wow, I'm going into fantastic detail in this blog, aren't I?), I made it to dinner, which consisted of some questionable chicken and fairly decent vegetables. Having not gone to bed for literally about 34 hours, I finished my dinner, said goodnight, and immediately lost consciousness upon hitting my retrospectively very uncomfortable mattress. The real fun was to come in the following days. In the back of my throat, almost as an aftertaste, in the darkness, I tasted hard boiled eggs.  

Stick around.