North Island 2 - Rotorua

I like our hostel in Rotorua - we have our own room, including a bathroom. The hostel is pretty new, the bed is (sort of) comfortable, and the kitchen is large. Craig said he felt out of place because we initially were the oldest, except for one guy who definitely looked totally out of place here, amongst the 20-something international crowd.

Link to North Island 2



Sadly, though, we have seen hardly any American young people out traveling since we left home. I don’t know why, but am surprised, as I was very envious of  the many overseas people I met way back in Europe at the hostels, where you had to be <26 to get a bed then. They were out for much longer than I was able to.

Then more people older than we showed up here, and Craig said he didn’t like the fact we eat in public (but at our own table!) I guess his problem is hostels in general.. he loves to go out to eat at restaurants, which certainly are public eateries. Maybe there is a component of nostalgia for me, because I have fun memories of my summer months out on a train pass in Europe.

I am incredibly impressed by the youngsters here cooking healthy meals, often from scratch - I didn’t do this at their age. But admit that making dinner one night felt like doing so at rush hour at Grand Central.

The Rotorua area is also very beautiful - rolling green hills, it’s sparsely populated, the town is a tourist center due to nearby hot springs (or mud baths?) I think. There is a faint sulphuric smell at times, but nothing that bothers us. New Zealand has a great website listing everything from walks in the park, to multi day backpacks in every corner of the country. We have hiked, as I need to make sure I can handle the bigger mountains, and longer days, that come after New Zealand.
Unfortunately we have had cold rain, with strong winds the past 2 days, so are trying to clear our lists of things that need sorted out before we leave NZ.

The pictures in the link of biking, are from the Havelock North area, and we drove to Rotorua (hiking) after Craig’s sock picture. Am afraid I never dealt with the fact the pictures in the link seem to start out on the wrong day at times.. but they are mostly in chronological order, I hope.
Doubt I will worry about this, as we booked our tickets back home, for July 5!

Today we drive to Thames, just east of Auckland. It will be nice to be back in our own Airbnb unit, and to not have to listen to the cacophony of European young people, or Asian older people in the kitchen.
Last night we turned the heat on in our room - the first time we have felt the need to do so, since turning the furnace off at home sometime in the spring of 2017!