Hello, is this the creepy residence?: 16/10/2011 - Taupo - National Park

The last couple of days have been a whirl of travel! I left Taupo on Friday 14th and I was so sad to go. Gen took me to the bus stop. Turns out I was at the wrong one but my bus driver was the same driver that I had before, Buzz, so he saw me and stopped. Then around 15 minutes into the journey I realised I'd left my phone under my pillow. Excellent. I was feeling pretty low, not wanting to leave Taupo and kind of feeling I was making the wrong decision and leaving my phone made me feel a bit rubbish.

On the way to National Park, we stopped at Waitomo Caves and I went on the cave walk for $33. I must say, it was a little disappointing. Don't get me wrong, the cave itself was magical and scary at the same time, but our guide was less than interesting. Quite often he'd pause for a long time and we wouldn't really know what was going on. But I did see lots of glow worms and stalactites which were really cool, but when you take a picture of glow worms, they no longer glow! I did get a picture of the mucus type stuff that they hang down from themselves to catch their food though, interesting stuff, and they really were beautiful in the dark, like little green stars.

Glow worm mucus

The next stop was a waterfall that the Maori worship. Some of them won't drink water that doesn't come from this waterfall, and they believe it is blessed, so I drank some water from it to 'bless my journey'.

We got up to National Park Village and it was so cold. I soon found out why as we drove up the mountain and there was snow! It turns out there is a ski resort up there on the mountain and we had a bit of fun tobogganing down a little slope. So glad I bought a hat, scarf and a pair of gloves, including a coat. The shorts and tights was a bad wardrobe decision on my part, though, in my defence I didn't know there would be snow. When we got back on the bus, Buzz decided he'd try and get me with a snowball. Little did he know, I'm an expert snowball fighter (ha!), so when he missed and sat back in his drivers seat, that snowball went promptly down the back off his neck. I win. On the way back down the mountain we stopped at the waterfall where, in Lord of the Rings, Gollum jumps into the water. At this point, an American guy called Steven slipped on the rocks and broke his finger, so Buzz had to drive him to the hospital, making him late for dinner.

I got dropped at my hostel which was a good 15 minute walk from where everyone else was staying, but it was the cheaper option. I checked in and then walked down to the bar where everyone was meeting for dinner, except Buzz of course. I had the chicken curry which was nice, but not really worth the $20 I paid for it. Had a nice chat with some people from Holland and a lady from Cheltenham, but on the whole the people on my bus were a little boring. So after I'd eaten I pulled up a stool at the bar and made friends with the two guys behind the bar. This was a good move, because it resulted in me getting absolutely plastered with only a $20 tab at the end of the night. Had some nice little shots, as well as my beloved SoCo and lemonade, but I can't remember much after the Jaeger... I did find two little bottles of Jaeger in my bag in the morning though, and remember not wanting to turn down a drink but also not wanting to drink anymore! I also remember Buzz turning up and having a drink at one point too. Oh, I also got a free toastie. Who said charm didn't get you anywhere huh?

Needless to say I felt like death in the morning, and the 6.30am start didn't do much to help. Buzz just laughed when he picked me up, but obviously anticipating my drunkness, had put a pillow and blanket on my seat for me to nap the morning away, what a sweetie. I napped for lots of the journey, except for when I sat down in the front seat to have a chat with Buzz and give him a hand with the paperwork. Helping him out earned me a free trip from Wellington to Taupo if/when I want it, so I can't complain. A coffee and a Subway later in Palmerston North helped the hangover greatly and I was starting to feel quite a bit better by around 2pm. We got into Wellington around 3pm and had a drive up to the summit of Mt Victoria for some really lovely views of Wellington, but in all honesty I just wanted to sleep. After being dropped at the hostel I walked down to Nomads to see if Jennifer was there with my phone (one of Gen's friends who happened to be coming to Wellington so bought my phone - bonus!), but couldn't find her. Spent a good half hour trying to use the payphone to get in contact but then gave up, bought some PJs since mine ripped, bought some milk for my cereal in the morning and headed back to the YHA.

View from Mt Victoria

I really didn't mean to fall asleep so early last night, but at around 7pm I showered, put on my new PJs, cooked my chicken noodles (with some tomato pasta sauce from the free food section) and then settled down with my book. I was chilly so I got into bed to read, the next thing I know it's 6am and I'm asleep on my book. Slept a little more. Okay a lot more, actually woke up 15 minutes before check-out and had a horrible rush to avoid late check-out fees. But once that was sorted, I stored my pack and headed over to Nomads to pick up my phone from the reception there.

I then took a walk through Wellington to the Parliament buildings. There are free tours of the Parliament buildings every hour and I only wish I could of been allowed to take myself around because there was so much I wanted to see but the tour was quite fast paced. There was a lot of things to read and look at that our guide sort of hurried us past, maybe I'll call them and see if there's a more in depth tour at some point. Sadly, cameras were not allowed on the tour, but the first building we went into was the 'Beehive', which is mostly offices but has a beautiful, round banquet hall to entertain heads of states in. We walked over to the actual building that Parliament sits in then, and it was just beautiful, very Victorian-Gothic. There was a lovely elevator which was one of the old style metal-work ones, really intricate. We first went to look at the Maori Select Committee room, which was beautifully decorated with classic Maori decoration. We then went to the House of Representatives, which is modelled on the House of Commons. Green chairs, green carpet, a public gallery and even the wooden panelling looks the same. The differences were that around the edge of the room, the name's of all the countries New Zealand troops have been involved in are on the wall. The speaker's chair was in the same place, and they even have a mace which is placed in front of the speaker like in the UK. It's interesting actually, that our tour guide told us that all commonwealth countries lower chambers have green carpet and all commonwealth upper chambers have red carpet. She also told us that the green carpet in the HofC represents grass because in the UK, way back when, decisions for the community would be made on the village green, or common, hence the name. We went through to the former upper chamber after that, which was removed from New Zealand politics because it was believed to be inefficient. Red carpet, speaker's chair, all the same. Even the opening of Parliament sounds similar, where somebody knocks on the door of the lower chamber to call the leader of the governing party through to the Governor-General.

We then went into the former Billiard room, where the politicians would smoke and drink and relax. However, it was changed from a billiard room when the first female MP protested that she did not like the banter that occurred in there. It's also worth noting that New Zealand was the first country to allow women to vote. Down in the basement, we saw the support system which makes the Parliament building earthquake-proof, whereby the whole thing pretty much moves. We also took a look in the Parliamentary library, which I probably could have spent hours in, but is apparently only for members of the house, shame really. There are 70 librarians for that library though. When the tour was over I made sure to grab as many fact-sheets as I possibly could, so you'll all be hearing much more as I look into it more.

See why it's called the 'Beehive'?

Parliament

I walked back to the hostel along the waterfront and it was quite nice really, if a little cold. When I got back I read my book whilst I waited for Dan and Gabrielle, my HelpX hosts, to pick me up. When Gabrielle came in, I felt really good about the exchange already. I've only known them for 3 hours right now, but they seem like such good people and they have a lovely little house up in Johnsonville, around 20 minutes from Wellington CBD by train. They mentioned that they wanted to go to the Diwali Festival at the TSB Bank Arena and wondered if I wanted to go - of course I did! The place was packed with people and had so many colours and decorations. The smell of the food was to die for and the clothes were beautiful, as well as the henna being done. I really should have had my hand done. The music and dancing going on was great too. After that we walked down the waterfront and looked at a sand sculpture outside the Te Papa Museum which was amazing. On the walk back to the car, I spotted an Occupy Wellington protest, so I'll be back off there in a couple of days to show my support. Now I'm going to have a cup of green tea and get ready to skype home in a bit!