The drive up to Rotorua was long. 7/8 hours, but leaving so early in the morning means we got there at 3pm. Not terrible.
Unfortunately, there isn’t much to do, and the place really does stink, though it was windy today so unlike last time I went through the area, it didn’t smell nearly as bad.
After checking into our dorms, we decided to get some last minute ingredients to finish off my rum in the form of…. MOJITOS. I still had two mint plants left, almost a full liter of Bacardi White, but no more soda water, and no ice. Three canadians were with me now, a girl from Nova Scotia, a guy from Edmonton and a guy from Calgary. With a few brits we marched over to the local Pak n Save grocery store and got everything we needed.
We headed back to the hostel and enjoyed our drinks while at the same time lessening my load. It’s amazing how fast a liter of rum goes when 8/9 people are partaking in it. We were just passing time for our free BBQ dinner at the hostel bar. At 7pm we went to the bar, stuffed ourselves on free patties, sausages (bangers on the barbie, mate!) and well, some slices of white bread. So it wasn’t an elegant BBQ, but it was free.
A few drinks to wash it down, and we decided to check out the hostel pool. It was nice and warm. I doubt it was natural heat from the hot springs all around us, but it was nice. Someone found a small foam rugby ball and we played monkey in the middle until the pool closed. Got dressed again and headed back to the bar.
Met some other interesting backpackers including two vietnamese folks, one of which could speak a bit of french. I called it a night around 10/11pm. The bus was leaving only at 9am so a few extra hours of sleep seemed like a nice deal.
Reality is creeping up faster and faster…
