1st Road Trip!

Went for our first road trip to Rotorua and Taupo during the long easter weekends. Kiwis celebrate easter and we had holidays from friday to tuesday. Such a long weekend. Not to be wasted. Rented a 7 seater and off we go! Too many events to blog about.. slowly k.

Day 1.

Itinerary Highlights: Stuck in a traffic jam, self entertain, Cactus Jack, Explore neighbourhood, Eat pizza in the cold, Run away from one million don't know what flies.

View taken from inside the car.

Cows! Got alot!

Saw this dog sticking its head out of the window. So requested Driver Ian to catch up with the van so i can take a nicer picture.

And so he chased.

And Tadah!!

Got caught in a jam... Got quite bored and decided to entertain ourselves with what we have. And what do we have? CAMERA. Girls at the back seat. Me, Aik khoon, jing.

Kimpeng, Andrea, Onyx, Ian and his what-the-heck-I-cant-move-the-car look.

And then we decided to entertain ourselves with what we find in the car. There is this little opening at the top of the car. So we decided to stand up there to take some pictures/ wave to other cars etc... like what we see in movies. Haha.. I dont have the pictures for them yet.After a long long drive... We reached Rotorua. Rotorua is known for their thermal springs so there is this sulphur smell shrouding the air over us. smells like hard boil eggs.

Our accomodation. Cactus jacks Backpackers. My first time in a backpackers inn! It is pretty interesting an experience. Read from lonely planet that Cactus Jack is a popular place among backpackers and all the rooms have different themes on the outside. True enough..

This is the jail. It is a boys dorm.

A Stable

This is ours, supposed to be some hardware shop. Decorated with all sorts of rusty metals basically.

The front view

Because of the jam, we couldnt get on with our plans to do white water rafting. So we decided to put everything to the next day and test the limits of our hearts.

Settling into our bunks. Ian had to sleep on the floor because of some miscommunication with the management.. or something like that. Aik khoon posing for the camera with her bored look. haha.The overall ambience of the place is pretty cheerful. Too bad the common area is right infront of our room and it can get pretty noisy. The toilets there are common toilets too. So it is kind of weird that you are bathing halfway and you hear a guy going to bathe in the cubicle next to you. Doesnt feel safe. Haha.. But nothing happened so i guess it is alright!

The common area.

Decided not to rot in the room. Went out for some fresh air. Andrea and the others got ice cream. I tested my determination and not take ice cream for the day. Always eating ice cream here.. Tsk.

Some lake nearby. Lake Rotorua? Haha.. No idea.

Pretty park. Cant remember the name either. Look at the water body behind us. Eutrophication!More flowers. I think these are daisies. Anyway pretty pretty!Rotorua Museum. We thought it was some kind of palace.
A typical cavity you'll see around Rotorua. This hole has some special significance though. Long long ago, it used to be filled with boiling water and poisonous gases. So, it became a burial ground for the remains of warriors, making sure it doesnt fall into the hands of the enemy. Now they did something to it and it isnt poisonous anymore. I hope they did something. I am just assuming. Haha. Sight seeing makes people hungry. Haha.. Headed for pizza hut to eat our 2 large pizzas for $14 student deal. Quite a steal! But it was only applicable for take aways and we had to eat our pizzas in the cold. Was freezing that day and we were all in our shorts and T-shirts! So jealous, those dine in people were all warm and cozy in the restuarant.

That pretty much ended our day 1.

Conclusion for day 1: The calm before the storm.