Table Of Contents
Way too much text for Arizona, so let’s keep this short. Continuing where we left off…
Flying into Auckland, I collected my checked bag and made my way over to the domestic terminal. There is the Domestic part of the domestic terminal (A320s), and also the Regional part (Q300s). Rotorua is a Regional flight. I went to the Regional lounge before realizing they didn’t have showers. I then went through security to the Domestic lounge, took a shower (always good after a long flight), and met up with MP, who flew in from Wellington.
Friday in Rotorua, Oct 11
After landing in Rotorua, we started walking towards town, and got offered a ride by a nice lady who had dropped off her partner at the airport. Thanks! We dropped off our stuff (repeat stay with airbnb host Kathryn) and went to get a pie at Patrick’s Pies and walked around the mud pools in central Rotorua (Kuirau Park and the Geothermal Walking Track).
Outside the centre, SH5 is not super walkable; also, the distances from Glenholme, where I usually stay, and the Energy Events Centre, require 30 minutes of walking. Ah well.
Is Rotorua a nice place to live? It’s OK, I guess. A bit small. Can get around with a bike from Glenholme, though some things are still pretty far. Getting out of town seems hard. And maybe you get used to the volcanic smell.
The Nationals, Oct 12–13
NZ Nationals runs 3 mat surfaces (most other NZ tournaments run 2) and day 1 went until 6:45pm, in part due to there being (relatively) a lot of fighters, and in part due to wait times due to people fighting in multiple divisions. The organizers had a dinner at Yamato again, which was nice. Sometimes, other referees are like “who is this MP person anyway?” but she came out to dinner this time.
Oh, also I won the Veteran Men 40-49 in -66, against one other fighter. I had hoped to fight SM-60 but couldn’t make weight while travelling.
On Day 2, MP tried for McDonald’s for breakfast, but it was slow. Then she went to Hobbiton again. She loves it every time. Now they have built a whole hobbit hole, which we didn’t see last time. After getting back from Hobbiton she was in Rotorua for a bit before flying back to Wellington. I sent the camera back with her.
For me, Day 2 finished at 4:30. After a pretty average scone at the venue on day 1, I did have a good scone from Citron (I passed right by McDonald’s), also good dinner at Moon Indian, and went to the Rotorua climbing gym, which is not brilliant for bouldering.
Back to Wellington (briefly), Oct 14
For me, staying another night was cheaper than flying on Sunday. Didn’t really do much on Sunday evening besides the climbing gym. In the morning, I had another banh mi at Malfroy Bakery (the discovery of this trip; Malfroy is named for the street it’s on, but seems owned by Vietnamese people) and then coffee at Scope—obviously the local hangout—for a while, bfore taking the bus to the airport. There were no other passengers on the bus.
This flight was also delayed by 70 minutes due to inbound aircraft, but there was nothing to be done. (Maori phrase: Kāore e taea te pēhea). There certainly weren’t earlier flights to take. I did various volunteer work on my laptop. Anyway, I got back to Wellington at 12:30pm and took the bus to Faultline to boulder—two days in a row, but it was Monday, one of my usual bouldering days.