This was definitely one of our more "interesting" days... It all started out fine: we got up nice and early to catch the bus at 7:30 a.m. so we could make it down to Rotorua. We stopped for a few minutes in the town of Paeroa, which is known for it's mineral springs, which provide the water for the famous drink L&P (Lemon and Paeroa). Brandon told us this was another "must" in NZ, so I had tried it on the plane. I didn't particularly like it because I don't like carbonated drinks, but when we stopped, I bought a muffin and ice cream made with L&P!
The bus driver let us out in a little town called Morrinsville, where we were to catch another bus to Rotorua. We had 10 minutes, so we quickly went across the street to use the bathrooms. 5 or 6 minutes later we came back only to find out that (you guessed it) our bus had just left!! We went across the street to a local gallery/museum and asked to use the phone to call the bus company. I was quite distraught, but George (as always) was very calm and making comments like "This seems like a nice little town to spend some time in." The lady in the gallery (Mary) was so sweet and seemed even more upset than I was. Finally, we arranged to catch another bus in the evening to get us on our way. In the meantime, we had all day to poke around Morrinsville. Mary let us leave our luggage at the gallery and we started walking. George will tell you it was one of the best days on our trip because we weren't interacting so much as tourists - we just meandered in and out of shops, had a leisurely lunch, and checked out the local library. I even got a haircut (one of the better ones I've ever had!). Around 4, when the gallery was closing, we went back to get our luggage and even though Mary had been off since early afternoon, she came back to take us on a little tour of the outskirts of town because she didn't want us to have a bad experience in Morrinsville! We were pretty amazed. And finally, we did get the other bus and made it to Rotorua.
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| Pedestrians do NOT have the right of way! |
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| HAHA! The Green Beanie is where I got my hair cut! |
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| The small, but very nice Morrinsville Library |
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