Weekend in Rotorua!!! Ziggy, here I come!

As I sit here, viewing multiple tabs on my browser while attempting to finish my report's rough draft (369/1000 words isn't bad, right?), I realize that I need to express how fantastic my upcoming weekend is going to be. Extreme excitement does not do my feelings justice! Aaahhh!!!

Today, my friends and I were scrambling to find some sort of campground to stay on for the long weekend, celebrating Waitangi Day, which is in memory of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, an agreement between the Maori and British settlers established early in New Zealand's history. Since we have a three-day weekend, we were all encouraged by the staff to find something to do off-campus. Unfortunately, we were somewhat ambushed by this task without really knowing what was available for us to do, and since we were off backpacking this past weekend and we had until technically yesterday night to have concrete plans, we were a little stressed out about our options. Sadly also, since this weekend encompasses a Kiwi national holiday, there were no hostels available, and slim-pickings at most hotels.

Luckily, today, with four of us simultaneously searching online, we found one last campground that had an opening and booked it for $252.00 NZ for two nights. Well, we attempted to book it... my credit card was declined... I knew I should have let the bank know about this trip! But my friend Kerry, who turned 21 today (happy b-day!) was able to rebook our accommodations, so we are all set to camp!

Later this evening, however, I realized that we had been REALLY smart and not taken the time to write down the name, address, or general location of our campsite. This gave me the perfect opportunity to distract myself from my paper, and I grabbed it! After about 30 minutes of searching on a quite slow internet connection (the norm here), I found where we were staying and started taking note. Then my buddy Emily, who is coming with to Rotorua, popped over, and we proceeded to spend our time learning about every service our campsite offered, from "swirl pools" to ablutions. She suggested we look at the section the campsite listed for "Things to do in February," and once we did, we found there was something called the "Ruggamuffin Festival" taking place this weekend.

Upon further inspection (aka Wikipedia), we found that the festival, actually called the Raggamuffin Festival, is a one-day music festival held in Australia and New Zealand and includes local artists, plus big-names, like Ziggy Marley, Shaggy, Inner Circle, and Arrested Development. And guess where it's playing this weekend? That's right! Rotorua International Stadium, a mere 6km from our campsite. Convenient, yes? And the cost? $109.00 NZ, about $56 US. WE ARE GOING TO THE RAGGAMUFFIN FESTIVAL!!! Woo-hoo!!! I actually just bought my ticket online and everyone else in my group will get their tickets in the morning. Man, am I stoked! This is my first real concert since Aerosmith back in eighth grade! Hurray!

So those are our rough plans for the Saturday we are on break. As for Thursday night, the girls and I are planning to bike out and sample the local fish n' chips and perhaps grab a drink or two. Even though turning 21 here isn't what it's like back home, we still have two girls in the group who had their 21st birthdays this past week. It's time to celebrate! Our plan is to spend the rest of the night at EcoQuest (the rumor is we'll be watching "Whale Rider" and possibly some "Flight of the Chonchords") and heading out Friday morning. The drive should be about three and a half hours tops, and we're taking one of the rental vans. [I forgot to mention: hopefully tomorrow during lunch, I'll be learning to drive this van, on the opposite of the road and in manual drive. We'll see how that goes :) Any local Kiwis who plan to go walking during their lunch hour have now been warned.]

We'll get into our campsite in the afternoon and the tentative plan is to go to a Kiwi exhibit, the local hotsprings/thermal baths, a Maori exhibit with bone carving, and/or go "zorbing," an extreme sport created here in New Zealand involving a person going inside a human-sized gerbil ball and being pushed down a hill. Now that's my kind of extreme sport! None of this sky-diving stuff! Our plan for Sunday is to go on a hike and then in the afternoon, leave for EcoQuest and be home for dinner.

I can't really believe that my newfound friends and I have really pulled off a trip like this in less than 72 hours. I never thought that coming to New Zealand would give me so many chances to explore relatively independently outside of EcoQuest! I actually feel like I'm learning what it's like to plan in advance and manage my money. All in all, it's been a good week, and it's leading into an exuberant forthcoming weekend! I can't wait!

Alright. Back to this paper...ugh. Talk to you all next week! Happy Waitangi Weekend!