Last weekend, I went to travel Central North Island – Rotorua, Taupo and Waitomo. It was first time to go tour since I came to New Zealand, so I was really looking forward to going there.

Unfortunately, The weather wasn’t that good on first day. Anyway, Cathay (who is my Korean friend) and I felt excited. When we arrived at our backpackers, Treks, which had a nice modern style with five qualmarks, we met two sweet roommates from Switzerland (Lea and Livia). The four of us went out for dinner to a Chinese Restaurant.

On Saturday, we went on a tour with Kiwiana Tours. The first sight was “Natural Thermal Land”. There were boiling mud pools. It looked weird but fantastic. I’ve never seen a phenomenon ike that before. But the smell was yucky because of the sulfur.

After that, we entered a really great thermal place, “Wai-O-Ta-Pu”. Boiling water from underground varied in its colors up to the materials around the soil. I had no words to explain those wonderful colors. We took many pictures in front of there.

Then, we went on to Taupo. Our guide explained to us about “Huka Falls”. The falls release water the volume of an Olympic stadium pool per second. The scenery was really really and (x2) awful. I was overwhelmed by its powerful stream. I was speechless when i went to Bridge. I could see those “Huge” Falls closely.

The weather was clearing after lunch. It was close to “Fantastic!” With that wonderful weather and glamorous sky, we could take a picture which looks like a painting.

Then, we came back to Rotorua, visiting “Government Garden” and “Museum”. The architecture was Victorian style. There were black swans. I never knew that there are “black” swans on earth!

The “Blue lake and Green lake” in Rotorua were indistinguishable to me. We had a crazy BBQ for dinner. Then we went to the “Polynesian spa” at night. I was embarrassed because my swimsuit was borrowed by my aunt, so it was too childish …. and out of date too kk

Anyway, I relaxed in the spa. I can’t forget that night’s sky. As being in a spa, I could see hundreds of stars on black sky.

On the last day morning, I was in stuck whether to do skydiving or not. I decided the later, so I went to ride “Gondola & luge”. The activity was so enjoyable. It was like Cart-Rider game.

The next place, “Agrodome” was the place closest to what I’ve thought about real NZ – spacious green open fields, peaceful sheep, big ostriches, ducks and horses… I had great time with those animals.

When we got to “Waitomo cave”, we could see lots of glow worms in the dark cave on the boat. We had to keep quiet and the view was really romantic. However, it was unsatisfying that some paths were closed due to the flood caused by Friday’s rain. So, we couldn’t enjoy enough time with glow’s light.

It was a REALLY NICE and UNFORGETTABLE TRIP!

If you want to see my pics, come to my blog “http://www.cyworld.com/01030006351“


by Sophia, a student at Languages International