The bus, as seems to be a common thing with transportation here, was late. John, our driver, quickly loaded us up and we were on our way. He a bit unhappy with the amount of traffic on the road and freely expressed it.

We headed out of town past the enormous cruise ships, then up the familiar coast we had just toured the day before (although now all seen from a much higher angle). It was a warm and sunny day, which makes me grateful to be here than under the foot of snow I hear they have back home!

These ships were truly enormous, easily larger than all the buildings nearby!

This was not an express bus and we stopped several times for more passengers. The driver had a phone with a list of passenger booking numbers, so he could easily check them off once they boarded. After about 3 hours, we stopped in Taihape (pronounced like Thai Happy) for a 30 minute break. I had some of the cheese sandwiches I had prepared in the morning.

Once back under way, John acted more like a tour guide than just a driver, pointing out lots of places and giving plenty of information.

We entered the central plateau and got a look at a couple of the volcanoes. These are popular to hike but the weather can change quite quickly and drastically. It can even drop to below freezing in the middle of summer.

Mount Ruapehu

Mount Ngauruhoe

Eventually we ended up at Lake Taupo. This was an enormous crater... not just comprised of the lake but of a much larger area. The eruption was so big that it was even recorded by the Chinese and Romans. We got a view of it for a while since we were stuck in construction traffic.

The small island in the center is used as a bird sanctuary.

At 4:30 pm, we had our second break in Tokoroa.

I didn't know what to make of this seemingly odd sign... Maori being good Christians?

After 30 minutes, we were on the road again. The drivers were very friendly, waving to each other and other large vehicles as they passed. The whole country generally seems very friendly. When Tessa and I were back in Wellington exploring for the day and we appeared a bit lost, a man came up and simply asked if he could help with anything. After telling him what we were looking for, he pointed us in the right direction and went on his way.

The signs can be quite cute too. Here are a few I've collected so far.

At a gas station

Road kills are different here. First off, they have no squirrels. So what do they end up hitting? Mostly hedgehogs and possums. But their possums look very different than our North American ones. They are super cute and fuzzy with big fluffy tails... and they are an EXTREME pest, destroying native vegetation at an alarming rate (they eat all the new growth) as well as decimating the native bird populations. I have frequently heard that people are quite happy when they hit one because "the only good possum is a dead one!" Ironically, in Australia, the country from whence they came, they are an endangered species!

The sun began to set and it was dark when we arrived late in Auckland. It was a long walk to the hostel. The street was not named so I walked right past it. Eventually I went into a liquor store to ask directions. The young girl in front of me who was buying cigarettes said she was headed that way, so I walked with her. It was only a couple blocks away. She was from Canada and had already been traveling for several months. Most people here seem to be doing that, not just a couple weeks but many, many months. My "great trip" pales in comparison to most of theirs.

Downtown at night

I checked in and went up to the fourth floor. The room was nice and clean with two sets of keys (one for the room and one for the main hostel door downstairs), but very stuffy and extremely noisy... cars, trucks, honking, tires squealing, countless car alarms beeping, people yelling... constantly.

It was a 3-bed female-only room. My two young roommates (one from Austria, one from the UK) were there. I went to bed around 11 pm but the outside noise still kept going. Eventually it quieted down in the wee hours for the most part, but traffic noise started up early again.