Down Under Part 8...I'm So Fancy

"In that moment, we were infinite"

After our night in Rotarua we had to continue on as we still had plenty to see and do.  We got up that morning and did some souvenir shopping and then ate at Fat Dog Cafe.  I drank so much hot chocolate in New Zealand it was ridiculous.  The cafe was super cute.  Then we headed to the redwood forest.  Yes, there is one in New Zealand too.  I didn't think I would enjoy myself there as much as I did.  It was so pretty just walking through all the tall trees.  We hugged a few of them.  After the forrest we went to Hukka Falls.  And then...we went to our hotel.

I'll admit that when Liz said we could all fit in one room (6 of us) I kinda thought we would be staying in one giant room with a bunch of twin beds kinda like 5th grade sleep away camp.  I was so wrong.  As we were driving into Lake Taupo I saw the Hilton up on the hill and I laughed saying how it was too bad we couldn't stay there...and then Sarah, Liz, and Kristina's car turned into the Hilton.  No Way!  Yep, it was true.  We stayed at the New Zealand Lake Taupo Hilton.  When I saw our room I could have cried I was so excited.  This was probably one of the nicest hotels I've ever stayed at.  Drumroll please.......we stayed in a three bedroom, two bathroom suite with a full kitchen, living room, dining room and four balconies.  I felt like a movie star.  Me and Bri got a room together with our own fluffy beds and a balcony that had a view of the pool and hot tub.  We each got our own bathrobe and slippers.  Oh and while we were at the hotel there happened to be an Aston Martin convention...so we practically went to a car show in the hotel parking garage.

We were only supposed to stay there one night so we packed that first day there with swimming, hot tubbing, eating plates of cheese and meats and bread and such...and sparkling grape (aka fake booze).  We of course had to drink our fake booze out of wine glasses in our bathrobes because we were just that fancy.  We watched the Lord of the Rings first movie because we seriously just went to Hobbiton and we had a fancy hotel to watch it in.  It was a glorious day.

The next morning we were supposed to leave.  I wanted the dang New Zealand chocolate milk that I still hadn't found yet.  So I got my butt out of bed and drove myself to the grocery store at like 6:30am.  It was unpleasant and the people at the store laughed at me.  The problem with that is this isn't china...I speak your language.  I can understand you making fun of me...whatevs.  Anyway I waited and waited and end of story I never got my chocolate milk.  Erin finally found some months after we left.  Someday I will drank that dumb chocolate milk.  It's going to happen...just not for a while.  So I head back to the hotel and Liz, Sarah, and Kristina have decided that it's so awesome and glorious there that they want to stay another night!!  Well so do we...so we do.  It was a good decision.

  

               

We spent that day shopping for gifts for people/ourselves.  I finally decided that I really wanted a Rugby All Blacks Jersey.  It was expensive, but I'm super happy I got it.  I think I would have regretted it if I didn't.  I also got my mom a pretty jade bracelet.  It rained a lot that day so it was nice to go back to our hotel and relax and finish our cheese and fake booze.  The hot tub was next on the to do list.  We met some interesting people that day.  First there was banana hammock man.  Bri got some real interesting pictures of him when she was spying on him from our room.  He was old and had seen way too much sun.  He spent his evening drinking beer after beer in the hot tub (is that safe)?  Anyway he was actually really friendly.  We maybe saw way too much of him, but interesting character to chat with and remember for years to come.  Banana hammock man had a friend named Brent (I called him wineo Brent).  He was young and also an interesting character to chat with.  His drink of choice was wine...hence his nickname.  He game us some good food advice for our next night in Hamilton.  It was quite the evening chat with these people in the hot tub.

 


That night we ended up watching the second LOTR movie since we were there and we could.  The beds there were so comfy.  The next morning we were headed back to Auckland with a stop in Hamilton.  But not before I took one last swim and spent some time in the sauna/steam room.  I loved that hotel and hope one day I can go back and stay for a week.  It was so relaxing and beautiful there.  I loved every minute.