A-Stray

As I think I have mentioned before Internet access for free is extremely rare here in New Zealand. But luckily the ferry has free wifi of all places.
I shall now try to summarize my past week of travels.
We started in Hahei. It was a nice beach town. I didn't swim in the ocean. Only rolled my pant legs up and got my legs wet. It was so hot and sunny and I kept thinking of the movie 'Goonies'. I don't know why. I just did. We had a group BBQ that night and I made potato salad for everyone. They seemed to enjoy it. The next day we headed to Raglan. It was kind of in the bush where we stayed. Very pretty place. All green and like a camp. They had glow worms along there drive living in the thick underbrush. Very cool to see at night.
The next day we headed out again. This time to Waitomo. That is where we went blackwater tubing. Fun day. The guides we had in the caves told us they had gps. But it doesn't stand for what you think. It stands for glowworm positioning system. The reason for that is that the ceiling of the cave was covered with glowworms. So where they were you knew where the water travelled. Sam our one guide kept on telling us if we feel anything touching our legs or backs it was just the eels. People were actually scared which I found funny. That night we stayed at a Mourea which is a Maori meeting house. They welcomed us in a traditional ceremony and later taught us all the haka. Very fun.
We went to Rotorua and Taupo the following day. Basically didn't do anything. Hung out with Holly, a girl I have become friends with from Surrey England. Her brothers friend was in Taupo as well so we hung out with him. And I made pancakes from memory and they were okay. They didn't have maple syrup but we did have caramel topping for them.
So the next place was Whakahoro, but pronounced fukawhoreo. Wh makes a 'f'sound in Maori. This was probably the highlight of my trip so far. We stayed at a place called Blue Duck Lodge. So beautiful there that I cried during hike I did when I reached one of the look out points. Niels, a guy on the bus from Denmark, ran the hike trail that took me 3hrs and he did it in 43 minutes. Didn't beat the record of 35 mintues though. I got the meal option there for dinner which was goat curry. If you have time you should google Blue Duck Lodge and take a look at what it does. A very impressive place.
After that we headed to Tongariro National Park. Almost everyone did the mountain hike up mount Tongariro. I didn't but I will try to do a winter crossing in August. Instead of the hike, the few of us who stayed behind washed the bus which was actually pretty fun. I also read 'digital fortress' by Dan Brown (da Vinci code author). It was a pretty good book. I have caught a cold now. Not too bad of one yet so when we were in Wellington yesterday I didn't do anything. Slept alright but had a super early start today. Actually writing this post on the Bluebridge ferry on my way to the south island. So today is going to be pretty boring since it's just traveling by boat and then by bus to our destination. But tomorrow is a day off from traveling. We are staying in Abel Tasman tonight and tomorrow. Should be pretty. It's another national park.
That's about all I can think of for what I have been up to. Looking forward to not being on the bus at all tomorrow. Oh and I called this post 'a-stray' since the bus tour I am on is Stray.
"hey you guys!"-sloth 'goonies'