Friday, October 26, 2007

Day Two: (The Boston Masacre)

Thanks to the time advantage we got up early and made it to our breakfast at 8AM with no problem. Collin gave us a map and showed us the best way to drive to Rotorua, which was to be our next stop. He also gave us a handful of other tips on places to see before jumping over to the South Island in a week. He referred to our destination affectionately as ‘rotten’rua because of the heavy sulfur smell there due to the volcanic hot springs all around the area.

Before leaving town we went back down to the glow worm caves and did the 45 minute hike around a trail that gave great views into the river flowing into the caves. The trail was really beautiful with lush green valley. Was interesting to see the forest on top of what we had floated through the afternoon before. The trail weaved through open caves both large and small - a small one is to the left.. . and some beautiful river views (below). We were lucking out on the weather, it had been raining up til now but both of our days here so far have been perfect, blue skies and sunny, around 65 degrees.

By 10AM we were on the road for our ~2 hour drive to Rotorua, where we hoped to be able to find a pub that would be broadcasting the world series on Sky TV, channel 1, we had already confirmed it was on. The Red Sox had of course made it to the series this year, I had something to do with that since we came here to New Zealand and made it difficult to see the games. If I was home and in front of a TV, guaranteed they’d have lost by now.

We made one stop on the way at some small town, Tirua, that Collin suggested we quickly stop to see the information/tourist building. and a few artsy shops. The info center was shaped like a big dog and a big bear made out of corrogated white sheet metal. Was odd looking, and definately unique. The shops weren't much... but clearly a spot where the tour busses stop on the way between Auckland and Rotorua. We strolled up and down the main strip there for 15 minutes then took off. Rotorua was only another 20 minutes away.

We got in just before noon and found a place in the local car park, and walked around the small town of Rotorua for a bit. This town was definitely larger than Waitomo, with a downtown of about 4 or 5 square blocks, and nested right on the banks of a large lake. We grabbed a quick lunch at a very San Francisco’ish deli before nesting at the local pub - Pig and Whistle - that had sky sport on the TV, and they were kind enough to put the world series on for us. We were the only Americans in there, but we struck up conversation w/ several of the bartenders and some of the locals at the bar. They were intrigued by the baseball since they had limited knowledge of the game. We hung out there most of the afternoon, through the 7th inning at lease, since the Sox were well in command (13 to 1) so I felt comfortable enough that we could leave and they wouldn’t blow the lead. I’d better not find out tomorrow that they brought in Eric Gagne to pitch the 9th inning and he gave up 15 runs. It’s possible.

We made our way about 5 miles outside of town to our B&B for the next two nights stay. This was more of a traditional bed and breakfast compared to where we were last night, which was more of a room like at a hotel. This was a bedroom in a house, but it’s very nice and the place is situated up on a hillside and our room has a great view of the town and lake below. We drove back into town for dinner, settled on some Indian food place because there was a good crowd , turned out no one knew what they were doing because the food was average at best, but my hunger was gone.

That was pretty much it for the day, we took a quick stroll after dinner to get some of the crap Indian food settled into our guts then headed back to the B&B where I’m writing this now. I think tomorrow we’re going to do a serious hike in the morning, hopefully making it back into town to catch the tail end of the Sox game 2.

So far my overall impression is positive of New Zealand. The people are very friendly. A few observations have surprised me, first of all there are many more Maori people than I anticipated. These are the native people to this land, they are of Polynesian decent and look like Samoans or Hawaiians. There was actually a big protest by a group of them outside of the bar when we were watching the world series today, the bar is right next to the courthouse. I guess a Maori guy was arrested for something and it’s big news that they feel it was due to racism and they are protesting it. Looks like America isn’t the only country with racism issues. David Allen Coe would like it here too. The other thing I’ve noticed that I didn’t expect to this degree is the tropical feel of the forests, the landscape as we drive around resembles Vermont a lot, lush green pastures and rolling hills for as far as the eye can see, but when we hiked through the woods you could have told me we were in central America it was so tropical feeling.

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