Located up the hill, City Lights the Rotorua BnB was a fifteen-minute drive from the city centre. It was a rectangular house with a red door. The owner, Naomi, and her adorable dog, Jelly, greeted us. She showed us around, and by the time she left, I had fallen in love with the place.
I have wanted to stay on a farm since I played Harvest Moon in high school (it’s like Farmville, only better) and competed against schoolmates. There was a period when we reported how many cows, chickens, and sheep we had every morning once we reached the classroom. Retrospectively, it was not the best use of our education money. Still, hey, at least we were pretending to be the most successful entrepreneur among ourselves, though the only job available was farming. Later, when Farmville became famous, I played it for a while at work before I got bored and started reading blogs instead while still harbouring the desire to stay on a farm. So you can imagine my excitement when we “accidentally” stayed at one.
We booked our accommodation, a backpacker hostel, in the Rotorua city centre. Unfortunately, or fortunately, I guess, at the last minute, Agoda called to inform us that the place was unavailable and they would like to help us book another class. So, with half an hour left before checking in, we booked the City Lights Boutique Lodge.
I liked the living room. It had a tall bookshelf and a fireplace surrounded by big sofas to snuggle in. It also had a small study table with a laptop in the corner, but I doubt you would want to think about the outside world when you are here.
The bedroom was marvellous. It was a comfortably sized room with a glass door that overlooked the entire town and windows facing a small garden and the farm. The bed was so soft; it reminded me of Westin’s. Unfortunately, they didn’t put the four identical skincare bottles in the bathroom we usually find in every hotel, but it is still worth stealing. It was an all-natural yummy smelling Kiwi-made product, and I can only say it was better than my skincare range.
We also explored the farm; actually, it’s not really like Farmville since there were only three pet black alpacas (alpacas are like a llama, only cuter) whose wool has been shed and collected for the last four years to be made as blankets, but the neighbours had sheep and cows. So yeah, almost Farmville-like.
In the evening, we went to downtown Rotorua for dinner and drinks at this new establishment called the Eat Streat. By the time I got drunk (good wines were cheap in New Zealand) and came back, it was dark, and we could see the whole town lit up from our bedroom and thus the name, City Lights.
The next day, Naomi made us breakfast. There was cheese, fruits, homemade muesli, yogurt, bread, and the whole spread. It was served with juice and coffee of our choice. Let me tell you; her flat white was the best cup of coffee I had in New Zealand. It made me stop drinking coffee in Auckland for a while because nothing came close to hers. We spent some time chitchatting about our lives. I didn’t take a picture of the delicious breakfast spread because it felt politically incorrect to Instagram food from someone right in front of them. Unless they are your partner, they must have tolerated your impoliteness from the beginning.
Good companions with tasty breakfast served in front of a breathtaking view. It was a memorable morning.
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[…] at the cauldron of a dormant volcanic mountain, Rotorua enjoys warmer weather than its neighbours. They had their last snow fifty years ago, which didn’t […]