Stop 1: Rotorua

Hey all
Today I have started my north and south island explorer trip which means i'll be out and about for 12 days. It's kind of daunting really, especially today.

I got the bus at 830am and got here at 1230, got my bearings and loads of help from the tourist office, then headed over to my first hostel. I'm not 100% in love with it, i'm not going to lie--I chose the hostel cuz it was convenient and i got a private room! and the area of the building i'm in is pretty sweet, top floor in the back plus key access so no one can get into my room or floor. but its not very homely or comfy looking. the beds comfy, just no chairs or table to put my bag on...not loving the idea of putting my bag on the floor YUCK! but in all honesty, the floor looks pretty clean. there's no mirror tho, but that's fine. what else...i guess i just don't like the fact that there's nothing really going on at the hostel and not lots of people staying there but who knows, more people may mosy on in on the weekend. i'm excited about leaving this hostel and seeing the other one's i've booked. it was kind of hard picking the hostels because some are run by hostel chains which offer discounts for members, others are run by families, etc. I guess it'll be trial and error...my dad kind of worried me cuz he asked why i would want to stay for 2 weeks at one hostel in sydney--one main point was at least i'd have a home for two weeks and that way i can get my bearings and figure out how australia works--the other, it was soooo hard booking accomodation for this time of the year in sydney, crazy hard! i know if i end up not liking it i'm screwed but at the same time, you gotta roll with the punches--as long as you don't let the punches knock you out, you're all good.

oh ya another thing to look for when booking hostels--even if it says they have wi-fi internet, that means nothing unless its free! my hostel wants to charge me 8 dollars for wifi whereas the public library charges 3 for the entire day. so that's where i am today.

this is what i hope to do today: see the government gardens and just walk around and see some free stuff, then tomorrow the skyline gondola agrodome sheep shearing and zorb! and then some natural park thing with kiwi birds! saturday i will go to the geyser thing and spend half a day there then not sure about the afternoon but i'll figure it out :)

today was the first day when I actually got to carry around my backpack too--everywhere i went starting from when i left home, someone would carry it for me lol (either my parents, or the plane cuz i had it checked in, or my cousin) it was kind of hard to carry it, not going to lie but with some repacking on sat nite, i'll make it better. there's one point i didn't consider: the fact that my hips make a figure 8/they rock side to side and with that so does my backpack! lol kinda funny

anyhoos, here i will bid u adieu for a couple of days, not sure when i'll get wifi access again, perhaps saturday night i'll try to get to the library again--that sounds so dorky, i'm going to the library during my trip lol

take care and lots of love