RUF Intern Life: TAUPO... Success!

On Friday afternoon, my friend Kelsey and I headed off to Lake Taupo, which is about 2.5 hours below Hamilton. We took the “Naked Bus” and booked a hostel for 2 nights. The bus was about 5 minutes late to pick us up, which almost gave me a heart attack. We hopped on and were off! About 3 hours later (with a stop in Rotorua), we checked into our hostel and found our room. We were in an all girls room for 6 people with one bathroom. Fortunately, there were only 2 girls already there and no more to come but us. One was on her way to Auckland and one was just taking a trip around the world, no big deal. This girl was 19 and had been living life with hostels, buses, and trains since last September. She was from England and had already been to China, Japan, Malaysia, Australia (for 4 months), and now New Zealand. Sheesh girl! She is due to go back home this September. Kelsey and I thought this was awesome, until we added up all the costs in our heads and hostels ALONE would be at least $3,500… not to mention, food, attractions, clothes, plane tickets, bus rides, etc. Dang, get it girl!

Saturday morning, after bundling up in at least 4 layers that we would eventually sweat almost completely through, we took off for a hike up the Waikato River to Huka Falls. Hiking side by side the river was definitely the best part. It was so clear and therefore reflected the color of the sky, making it clearish bright blue in most places! Huka falls was a waterfall of rapidly gushing water (obviously, because that’s what all waterfalls are). It’s times like these when I wish I were a water molecule, because 1) that’s the only thing that can survive something as intense as Huka Falls, 2) I wouldn’t have to worry about drowning, 3) free adventures all day every day, and 4) I would get to meet new molecules literally every second. The hike was at least 2 hours each way, so it took up most of the day. When we got back to the lake, we searched for forever trying to find lunch/dinner. It was about 3 and everyone’s “lunch menu was off”. We settled for some asian food and topped it off with double scoops of gelato. YUM!

We came back to our room to discover the best part yet… Humi, a new hostel-mate straight from Japan. She stopped in Taupo for a half marathon on her way up to a home-stay in Auckland. I cannot even put into words how hilarious, enthusiastic, and energetic Humi was. Through her broken English, I understood most of what she said, but I don’t think understood me much (Mom, probably much like a parent-teacher conference for you). She just nodded and said “Uh huh!!! Yaaaa!!!” to most everything I said. However, I did wake up around midnight to Humi taking some new running shoes out of their box, breaking down the box, folding the box, crumbling up the paper in the box, and then folding the paper back up to keep it all in her bag. Hilarious. Hostels sure are a great way to meet some interesting people with equally interesting stories!

Today we walked about 8 miles roundtrip up to where the bay meets the lake and back. The land surrounding the lake was filled with trees then rolling hills then houses then town then mountains then rolling hills then trees and so on… It was stunning.

After going through the shops and grabbing a bite to eat, it was back to “Uni” via the Naked Bus, where I sat next to California girl who was finishing up her semester abroad here in NZ! We chatted it up and I got some good advice from her! Success for trip #1!