Sharing a room with 12 strangers is the way to go.

As i said last post, writing this on my phone.  Little harder to do things so bare with me.

Google is super useful.  I arrived in Rotorua with a very minor plan.  Mostly find a place to sleep.  I may be " homeless " but I can at least have that much.  There were multiple hostels to select from. Ended up at Rotorua Downtown Backpackers.  It holds about 60 people.  There are two large groups of French students and I've been talking to a few of the more long term travelers, they are from Britain, Holland, South America, and other places I haven't learned yet. Been learning a lot, especially what I should do. Room I ended up in had six bunk beds.  I haven't slept in a top bunk since my cousin's house like a decade ago.

I arrive Sunday evening and spent the evening looking into the area.  Monday I went for a hike to the Redwood Treewalk. Though you can bus There, it was a 7 km walk.  Following the sulphur point trail this is the sign that greets you.

Little ominous, especially with the multiple hydrogen sulphide warnings around.  Got to live the smell of rotten eggs, but at least it means you won't die. 

The walk was nice, part of a large bird refuge.  The redwood park is a huge forest covered in  walking paths, horse riding paths, and mountain biking paths.  It's mostly redwood trees they imported from California which are between 50 and 70 m tall. 

The treewalk itself is a short circuit through the trees at about 12 m up.   The circuit includes plaques which include information about the forestry industry of the island and some very wobbly bridges.  All in all a good day with an 18 km hike. 

An artist built light fixtures that are hung around the circuit.  In the future may do the moonlight walk. 

 On my way back, bought some groceries to cook in the community kitchen and talked with people. 

Tuesday I decided to go to the redwoods and follow one of the trails people suggested.  It climbed one of the hills and had a few overlooks of the town and forest.  Meet a random guy who was on his lunch break taking a hike.  Great first impression: red faced, sweating profusely, and out of breath.  We talked about his job in the forestry industry and he pointed out some of the features in town including a geyser which erupts every hour or so.  

Hike was a little longer than I expected, about 23 km in total. That evening, meet a few more people that returned to the hostel from trips around the country.  Ended up watching a rugby documentary with them featuring the kids of one of the permanent staff at the hostel. 

Today ( Wednesday) I went a little more low-key.  Walked around town and alone the shore of the lake.  This included mud pools and springs.  There are a few Maori locations. Will looking into visiting then in the future. 

On another note, I received my IRD number and can now work.  Looking at doing so we seasonal work since I've been unemployed for a few months and feel a little stir crazy.  Will probably work for a few weeks before traveling again.  Still looking into more permanent jobs but will see what happens. 

Still alive

It's been a week since I landed.  I am currently on a bus headed to Rotorua, so please forgive any spelling errors.

My week in Auckland was busy but not really eventful.  Walked around places and learned their transport System decently well.  Spent most of the time getting ready for my year here.  Got an actual cell phone, finally, but most people message me on other platforms. I'm not worried about giving out my number unless you ask.  Also installed whatsapp of anyone wants to use that.

Beyond that ( ooh driving by a theme park) I got a bank account and applied for a tax number so I can actually work.  Applied to several jobs and only got one full on rejection so far.  Though they said I should keep looking at there career page. Also researched more" back packers " jobs.  Lots of farm work which could be fun.

I did join up to a board game group on meetup.com. tried going to two different event.  First was a small get together at a store, but bad weather kept people away.  ( rain and wind...) Other  group was better.  About thirty people were there though half were playing miniature games.  Saw warhammer and blood bowl.  Wasn't as much of a community as Stormgate, no intermingling or switching groups up but that may have been just that meeting.  Still Games so yay.

 As of now, I'll be in Rotorua around 5 pm. Found a nice hostel, though not as cheap as an airbnb I'm hoping I can meet some people there.  I'llapply to some jobs and do the tourist thing.  Next time should have pictures also.

It's colder than I expected, and I love it

Last full day in Hawaii, decided I wanted to go snorkeling again. Water was warm and clear, tonnes of fish and people. Really happy with the camera I bought so far.

Ended up snorkeling on two beaches, the second being Turtle Beach. Locals hate this beach since the people going there are really bad for blocking traffic. I was hoping to see turtles swimming but unfortunately didn't. Water was a lot dirtier here and less pleasant to swim in. At least I got to see the turtles on the shore.

That night, we went out for dinner and watched the new spiderman. The next day was spent packing and helping get the car I used all week ready to sell. My cousin dropped me off at the airport and my next adventure begins. The flight was pretty good. I upgraded my seat to the "extra comfort", gave me way more leg room and it included extras like better food and free movies. I had a nice conversation with the guy next to me which makes me feel a little more confident about going to New Zealand since he mentioned the lack of skilled workers. Once we landed, I was picked up by my Airbnb host. A very nice guy, renting out the extra room in his apartment while his sister is away.










As for what happens now, I spent my first day in Auckland getting a phone and looking into getting a bank account. This will allow me to get a tax number and actually work. After that, I'm hoping to apply to jobs by visiting environmental companies, if not it's to the fields with me.

I was shown the error of my ways...

But Pineapple can be delicious

So I kept putting off updating this since I kept getting busy or tired. Ended up uploading over  70 pictures out of the multitude I've taken so far over the three days of activity. A little ridiculous. If anyone wants to see something more from something I did, it'd be easier to ask. I'm taking it slower today (Thursday) also since I'm dealing with some banking things, left over house things, and prepping for my landing on Sunday. I'm not homeless once I land, Yay me.

Monday, being a little toasty, I took a nice drive around the eastern half of the island. I followed 99 north which became 83 east and south, before taking the H2 north back towards my cousin's. I stopped along the way at different places. Ended up at the Mormon church thinking it was a different temple. Nice landscaped property but felt really artificial with the natural beauty of the island. The rest of the stops were scenic lookouts along the coast. Passed the Turtle Bay Resort which is featured in movies. Could have snuck in but wasn't worth the hassle.

After the drive, I stopped at the Dole Plantation. Mostly since I know one person that would probably be jealous. This use to be one of the main pineapple plantations for Dole but a lot of the production has moved to another island over the years. I didn't go into the giant pineapple maze but took a ride on the Pineapple Express and walked through their garden. The plantation grows quite a few fruits: cocoa, sugar cane, bananas, lychee, limes, lemons, macadamia nuts, coffee, along with the pineapple.

The garden itself had a few different variety of fruits, but was mostly flowers and other plants. It also talked about the introduction of most of the fruit bearing plants that the plantation grows, like the pineapple.

And of course had to finish it off with their signature dish, pineapple ice cream with pineapple topping. Super refreshing on a hot day.

Tuesday I decided to go do some of the touristy attractions that were not beach and hiking. First stop was Pearl Harbor. Though I'm not much of a history buff, again I know at least a few people that would be jealous and when else would I get the chance to go. I decided on the SS Bowfin tour because submarines are cool and I like the engineering that went into making them. This included a audio tour of the museum which talked about the designing of the submarines from the World Wars until present. 

After that, there was also an audio tour of the submarine itself. As expected, everything was tiny inside with no real privacy for the crew. It's also fascinating the amount of work that went into making them work. Glad I got a chance to walk through it.

There were different monuments and other small museums along the shore, along with the memorial above the sunken USS Arizona and an in-service ship anchored along the actual military base.













After Pearl Harbor, I went to the Honolulu Zoo because animals. No real surprises there, lots of birds along with the standard zoo animals. Always love seeing animals. Lacked bears unfortunately but not surprising with the climate.

Look at the cute African penguins.

And being 35 C, had to get shaved ice which I ate while sitting in the shade at the Waikiki Beach.

To finish of the day, went for a hike to see the Manoa falls. Online listed it as a relatively easy 45 minute hike. It is one of the more popular hikes but definitely much shorter than 45 minutes. Gorgeous scenery walking through rain forest and bamboo forests. Met a few ppl at the top of the falls and talked a bit. Ended up taking pictures for like 5 different groups. It was a nice way to finish the day off.

Wednesday I was feeling much better with my burns and wanted to go snorkeling again. Cousin suggested Shark's Cove, which I think I found but without any great signs, could have been anywhere. The cove was full of a lot of snorkelers so was at least in a good spot. I also took my camera into the water since it says it's waterproof up to 20 m. Unfortunately the mask fogged up on me a bit so it was hard to see what I was shooting but overall it worked really well and got some great pictures.

 After that, I went to go find a hike. I choose the Kaena Point trail since it was at the tip of the west point and listed as a moderate hike. I did not realize how far 6 miles would be, especially since that was just to get to the end of the trail before you had to come back. I walked for about 50 minutes along a very rough road. The road was wedged between the mountain range to the south and the rocky shore to the north. Nice breeze off the ocean but the heat of the road offset it. By the time I got to the end of the road and hit the gateway to the bird sanctuary I was done. Still had the 50 minute walk back and needed more water and food. Overall a good day.

Depending how the next few days go, my next post may be from New Zealand.