holy north island batman

and so begins our whirlwind tour of the north island. our plan was from wellington to go directly north up the center, then head east along the coast and back to wellington. we originally wanted to do the trip in reverse, however there was no accommodation to be found in napier - turns out the week we wanted to go happened to be their art deco festival and everything was booked. but luckily when we reversed the trip, we were able to see the last day of the art deco festival but still get accommodation.

the first town we drove through was shannon, home to "owlcatraz" (i am not joking), an aviary for owls, who are given names such as 'owlvis presley' and 'owl capone'. i think it would have been funny and quite possibly the cheesiest tourist attraction i've seen, but limited time calls for limited sights. made our way further up, and stopped in palmerston north, a college town. there was a little main street with shops and cafes. we stopped at cafe on george to relax a bit and write our thank you cards to the people of reefton. further along the drive, came to a town called bulls. now, this is a very interesting place, if only b/c of their amazing marketing skills. the town would be like any other, EXCEPT every store, every office, you name it - had "a-bull" after the name. as in the medical center was "cur-a-bull". the market "veget-a-bull". the police "const-a-bull". even the public toilet (my favorite) "reliev-a-bull". HAHA. what a photo-op there!

westward from there, came to wanganui, the main town in that area. again, it was filled with shops and cafes on the main street. we cut over to see the less than impressive park. then back in the car, which would soon become my enemy. instead of going a more direct route to the taupo area, we took the scenic drive along the whanganui river. it started out very nice, with beautiful views of the river and hilly landscape. unfortunately the road quickly turned into a gravel (or loose) road and things just went south for me. the constant bumping in the back seat and the quick twists and turns of the road gave me instant car sickness. i got a bad headache, a unrelenting pulsing in my right ear and was very nauseated. plus, there was so much dust in the car from the road it was almost hard to breathe. finally made it out of there and into the town of ohakune, the carrot capital. our plan to get carrot cake here failed miserably; despite LP stating you can get carrot everything (from drinks, to pizza, to deserts) - there was not one carrot cake to be found in the entire town, nor was there anything carrot-y on any menu. i was too sick to eat anyway, but LP you really let us down on this leg of the journey.

got a glimpse of mt. ruapehu, the highest and most active volcano in tongaririo national park, and hit the road again. drove along desert road (thru which i pretty much slept) to turangi, home to the self-proclaimed trout fishing capital of the world (NZ is really big on titles), but i was too sick to even think about fish and chips here. managed to get down half a PB&J and apple, and the shower to get off all the grime really helped too, so felt a lot better by the time i went to bed.

next day again cursed with bad weather. turns out that a cyclone had just passed over the northern tip of NZ and we were getting the remnants. great. not sure how, but we are literally following every storm that comes across the island. it rained all day long. so took our time getting ready in the AM since our plans to go hiking through the thermal areas and volcanoes would have to be forgone. drove along lake taupo, but couldn't see much thanks to the weather and cloud coverage. spent the whole day putzing around trying to find indoor activities, and there aren't much in taupo! went to several cafes, theresa & steph got haircuts while i walked around, then went to a movie. finally on the way to rotarua, passing several hot springs and huka falls - all of which we had to pass on b/c of the rain.

checked into our hostel in rotarua (spa lodge), and wouldn't you know the sun actually poked its head out while we were eating and doing laundry. it's like a cruel joke. oh well. wanted to watch the rugby game - dunedin highlanders vs wellington hurricanes - so headed into town to see if we could find a sports bar. the first we came to had the game on, but no sound and the music was so loud you couldn't hear yourself think. but found our way into a totally townie bar and had a great time! stuck to ourselves at first, but kept being approached by locals (mostly men with a few women, all at least in their 40s), and eventually struck up conversations with them and learned a bit about the game. they even had us participate in their betting pools (tho we had no clue what we were actually betting on), and later one of them bought us all a beer. new zealanders are all so nice and friendly, it continues to amaze me. wellington won (yay!) and then we headed back to our hostel for the night.