As the sunset was approaching I hopped on a bus headed North to a town called Taupo. I took a taxi to a McDonald's across town from my hostel and in front I was picked up by a cheap as hell bus called The Naked Bus (if you go online at the right time you can buy tickets to so many places for around $20- similar to Mega Bus in Canada)
I had to wonder, what was with the name? The Naked Bus? Was the driver going to be some greasy, middle-aged naked dude encouraging everyone to take it off? Was I hopping onto a bus of fornication? It wasn't exactly what I had imagined. Just in time to beat a gust of rain, I hopped onto the bus as a fully-clothed middle aged dude threw my bags into the cargo space, got behind the wheel, told everyone to put their seatbelts (?) on and said a prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. That was a first! Seatbelts and Jesus on The Naked Bus? Alright! Ill take it! Its better than some drunk guy crapping his pants behind me and a delinquent mother who cant be bothered to soothe her baby's shrill cries for the entire ride...like on every single Greyhound bus ride Ive ever taken back home!
As we departed Wellington and hit the highway I watched the rolling green mountains go by, and thought about how lovely it was that even the suburbs haven't completely taken over nature. Dont get me wrong, there is plenty of development in the area, but still compared to most cities Ive visited you can see that nature is still King. Instead of a sprawling suburbia dotted with a tree here and there, there was a refreshing blanket of green for as far as I could see, and stunning mountains and coastal views with neighborhoods scattered here and there- mixing in, not parasitically reigning like other places Id been recently. The more I traveled New Zealand the more I noticed this reoccurring theme- Nature First. Thanks New Zealand, one more reason to love ya!
I was a little regretful I couldn't spend more time in the quaint, inviting, artistic and colorful city of Wellington but nevertheless, one must push onward. I could feel a great adventure coming my way, and so I told myself "I'll be back" (and I did return). Trying to cheer myself up I turned my focus to the reason I came to New Zealand: The Tongariro Alpine Crossing, imagining it in all it's glory. At 3 a.m. those pesky fluorescent lights glared down on me. The Naked Bus had stopped.. Destination Taupo, check point!
