I was woken up 20 minutes before my bus left in the morning, by Ivan the Irishman who I was sharing my dorm with. If it hadn't been for him I would have missed my bus for sure. I was very very hungover. With no time to wash I stuffed everything into my backpack as quick as I could and chucked on yesterdays clothes, mmmm nice. I knew this was going to a horrible bus journey. It was made worse when I got on the bus and everyone else who had been out the night before seemed fine!
We headed off on the road to River Valley. After a brief stop in Turangi for a very needed coffee, french stick and huge piece of carrot cake, we stocked up on lunch supplies and headed back on the bus until we arrived just outside Tongariro National Park, where I had done the huge walk the day before. Here we had the option of doing a 2 hour walk to Taranaki falls. As nice as I'm sure this would have been, and as much as I would have liked to do it, the pain in my feet, calfs, groin and bumbum prevented me from doing so. I hadn't really rested since the huge walk the day before so I decided I would use this time to take a rest and had a 2 hour lie on the grass.
We jumped back on the bus and pushed onward, stopping quickly for a photo of the giant carrot statue in Ohakune, the "carrot capital of New Zealand". I knew that River Valley was supposed to be a bit out of the way but it is quite more so than I expected. We traveled for about half an hour through narrow country lanes passing the occassional farm house and plent of sheep untill we arrived at the top of a hill. From here we had to walk down a track since the bus did not fit. A truck came to getour bags thankfully. We arrived at River Valley Lodge, our home for the night.
Although it is in the middle of nowhere it is really really nice. It has a very old fashoned kind of feel to it, a wooden building, with an old fashoned style bar, serving beer in big tankards, and benches with stools in the main area. There's also a huge open fire in the middle that they sometimes have going. The "bunk rooms" we stayed in are basically one huge room, splint into 3 and in each 3 sections one signle huge bunk bed runs along the wall with loads of matresses on top. Very cosy if your room has a lot of people in, thankfully mines did not. There is no TV and only one computer. Outside there's a volley ball court and a load of picnic benches where you can sit in the sun. They also have a little vegetable garden and the river is less than a minutes walk away. Behind the lodge the huge cliffs that are the sides of the valley tower up, it really is quite stunning.
After a nutritious tea of cheese rolls (the kitchen was so busy and I couldnt be bothered to wait and make my pasta) the rest of the night was spend sitting around having a few beers and a banter with everyone. And an epic game of pictionary. It was also really cool to catch up with Polly and Amy who are working here, they were both in the original BUNAC group that I came across with and I hadn't seen them for ages.
This morning I went to reception to ask about getting a job as a "slave" here; doing some cleaning for a few hours a day in return for free accommodation, 3 meals a day, internet and laundry. They told me there wasn't any spaces but when I came back later to buy some internet time they had changed their minds! So I'll be staying out here for 2 weeks, no idea what I'll be doing yet but I'll save a fair bit of money and meet loads of people too, since 6 out of 7 days a week there is a Kiwi Experience bus load of people staying here.
Today I just completley chilled out which was nice after constantly being on the move on the bus. I went and checked out the river and stuff around the lodge and it's so nice. Hopefully I'll find time to go for a walk or a jog or something tomorrow. There's also a spa and sauna which I can use for free so I might have to go check those too.
Since the computer here doesn't appear to want to let me upload photos you can see where im staying at: http://www.rivervalley.co.nz
