we got up buttfuck early so that we could take a shower, eat breakfast, and get our asses out to catch the kiwi experience bus at 7:40am. we basically whizzed on through to taupo, only making the mandatory lunch and bathroom stops, as this is the end of most people's new zealand trip. when we stopped in bulls for lunch, i got to see the police station, or const-a-bull, which i had not seen the first time we were in bulls.

const-a-bull (bulls police)

tongariro national park was covered in snow when we passed by, but our view of the mountains was almost completed obscured by clouds. i can't wait to go by in the rental car in a week and get some awesome photos of the snow-covered mountains. i have dry, summer shots. can't wait for wet, winter shots!

full rainbow next to tongariro national park

we got to taupo relatively early in the afternoon. we're staying at the tiki lodge again, but this tme in a 7-person female dorm room that is not en suite. the kitchen smells funny tonight so it's a sucky stay as compared to last time. it should be much better when we do our road trip and have a family room en-suite.

after checking-in, our driver took us out to craters of the moon, a free geothermal activity just north of taupo. it does not resemble the moon at all. you just walk along and watch steam rising from every which way, which is actually pretty cool. i think the area would be perfect for a music video. while we were walking around, we talked to one of the other guys on the bus. he's perhaps our age or 1-2 years older, judging by our conversation. he's french from reunion island (formerly bourbon island), east of madagascar. really interesting to talk to him to get a different perspective on things. even he gets pissed off by the french now and then. pretty funny.

craters of the moon

when we got back into town, we decided to walk around and check out a souvenir shop for some more brilliant souvenir ideas. instead of cooking, we decided to buy some falafels for dinner. the place we went to has a shop in bulls too. we have a frequent buyer card so next time we should get a free falafel, cool! evening was spent watching a bit of tv. i can't help it, it's fun to watch them bitch on america's next top model. (which just goes to show you what little else there is to do for fun over here.) also, the wanna be models are ugly (i mean, has there ever been a pretty female model? no, all the beautiful models are gay men) and photos they take are shit. it's weird to watch the panel bitch it out over good versus bad model photos because all the photos are crap. who gives a shit. ah, reality television.

taupo superloo: celebrating 3 million customers