Waikite Valley and Taupō: FORE!!

Wednesday 12th October

We were leaving Rotorua for now but that didn't mean we had to leave the volcanic features behind too. After on and off drizzle through the night we had to put the tent away wet, before grabbing some breakfast and departing just gone 10am. Our next stop was only a half an hour drive down the road in the Waikite Valley. We'd booked a nights camping at the Waikite Valley thermal pools. We'd  found out it had a small campsite attached and if we were staying at the campsite, we got free unlimited access to the numerous pools they had on offer. As we didn't have to travel that far we were there by about half 10. Although check in time wasn't until 12 the receptionist let us put our tent up and gave us some wristbands that would show that we are staying there. There were only about 4 tent sites and they backed on to a steaming river just beyond a fence. With the tent up, we got changed and ready to test out the pools. We spent a good 3 hours soaking in the various pools that had temperatures ranging from 35 to 42°. There was a couple of pools that overlooked the steaming river behind the site but we favoured the cooler hot tubs that were a welcome relief from the steaming water of the other pools. By the time we emerged from the mineral rich waters we'd worked up an appetite and decided to order ourselves a burger each from the onsite café. A lamb and venison burger with chips later, we decided to walk it off on a short onsite Eco walk. The walk followed the boiling Otamakokore River the short distance up to its source. The source is called Te Manaroa Spring and is New Zealand's single largest source of natural boiling water; the water emerges from the Earth at a stifling 98°c. When we got to the Spring we could just about make out the huge bubbles as they made their way to the surface. It was an eerie sight and we half expected the swamp monster to come crawling out at any moment. We tried to take a good photo, but we were hampered by the steam rising from the hot water as it cooled. This river is where the pools get their water from but obviously it is filtered and cooled before we get to swim in it, otherwise we'd end up like lobsters chucked in to a pot. We walked back to the pools and decided it was time for round 2, so spent another hour or so relaxing in the various pools. We had one final break to cool off before another trip through the pools ( we were just trying to get our monies worth) and then called it a day and got a shower. There was little to do at this campsite compared to the large ones we were used to staying on, so we sat in the car (it was raining) and read our books until dinner. The kitchen was tiny and we could just about cram 3 of us in there at the same time. We managed to cook up our pasta beans and carrot though, but both agreed that it was just starting to lose its thrill. We'd need to come up with some fresh recipes for ourselves!

Thursday 13th October

Unlike the majority of the other campers, we didn't make use of the pools first thing in the morning, as we'd wrinkled to prunes the day before. We awoke to thick mist but guessed it was like that most chilly mornings when the hot water around the place cools and turns to steam. This steam and mist was soaking the tree above our tent and making it seem as though it was raining. We just had to grin and bear it and put the tent away soaking wet. We were on the road by about half 8 but only had a short drive back to the highway, where there was another turn off to our destination of Wai-o-tapu thermal wonderland. We pulled up, purchased our tickets and started walking round the park. Thermal Wonderland is pretty much a series of volcanic and geothermal features that someone has stuck a fence around and started charging tourists a pretty penny to go and see. We read and heard it was worth a visit, so we thought we'd swing by and check it out. We started walking around various craters, mud pools and steam vents for the next 40 minutes or so. One of the 2 big draws of the park is the “Champagne Pool”. I'm not really sure how it got its name but it's either because it bubbles and sounds like it's fizzing, the cross section of the pool looks like a fluted champagne glass or the colours of the pool resemble champagne. It's anybody's guess though. The pool really was a great sight though. It was fizzing away nicely and generating plants of steam and a lovely (that's sarcasm) sulphuric odour. The edge of the lake where the water met the Rock was a deep orange before the rock fell away to the depths and it turned a deep turquoise that you'd associate more with the Aegean Sea. We carried on round through some more features before reaching some terraces not too different from the white terraces that were destroyed by Mt.Tarawera’s eruption in 1886. We could walk so closely to the terrace that we could see the edge of them and distinguish the layers upon layers that had formed over hundreds of years. From there we had to cut our visit short for the time being and make a dash back to the car park and drive a few minutes along the road to watch a geyser erupt. Neither Charlotte or I had ever seen one erupt before, so we were pretty excited. The geyser was centre of attention in the centre of a small amphitheatre and the crowds slowly came in before its scheduled eruption at 10:15. Just before that time, a Maori man came on next to the geyser and told us a little bit about the backstory of the geyser. It was called the “Lady Knox Geyser” after a former Governor of New Zealand’s daughter. The reason it had such a precise eruption time was because it had originally discovered by inmates at a local prison camp and they had decided to use the waters of the geyser to wash their dirty laundry. The soap they used caused a reaction in the geyser and it set it off. This meant that they now use their own special soap powder in order to guarantee a spectacular show for the baying mob of tourists. The guide poured in the soap powder and carried on talking while the geyser slowly started bubbling and getting ready to burst. It started bubbling more before we could hear an ominous rumble beneath our feet. Then, off it went, spurting boiling water in to the air to quite a height. Every so often the wind would change and we'd all get a bit of a spray but by the time the water came down and landed on us it had cooled quite a bit. It didn't take long for the crowds to start dispersing and heading back to Thermal Wonderland. We hung back to take some photos and avoid the inevitable traffic jam. By the time we returned to the car we got a good run back to the car park and got back in easily. We only had a little bit left to see but didn't want to miss out by not returning. We passed yet more pools of boiling mineral rich water and sulphuric crystal forming amongst the rock. The last point of interest before exiting was probably the best feature of all (I've just realised I never said what the second main attraction of Thermal Wonderland was. It was the geyser, obviously). It was called the “Devil’s Bath” and was a pool of bright yellow water that was made by overflowing water from the champagne pool reacting with the sulphur in the rocks. It reminded me of an Only Fools and Horses episode, where Del Boy and Rodney start bottling “spring water” and its turns out to be radioactive or polluted. It really did look like run off from a nuclear power plant. That was the end and by the time we left, we were pleased we'd been and, although we'd had to pay, we felt it was worth the expense. From there we drove for about 40 minutes down to the town of Taupō on the shores of the lake of the same name. We checked in to the biggest campsite we'd visited so far, which was so big it could have been a small town and even had street names. We pitched the tent before nipping in to town for a bit of food. Whilst in town we visited the info centre to find out of any crucial things we needed to do whilst in Taupō. Armed with our information and food, we headed back to the campsite to spend an evening in the sun, tidying the car. Over the 6 months we'd been in New Zealand we had accumulated a hefty amount of pamphlets that we never used, never visited the attraction or visited and then never threw away. We spent a good hour sorting through them all and then recycled all the ones we didn't need in order to make some more room in the already crammed car. After our spring clean, we plonked ourselves in the kitchen and had our chicken stir fry for dinner.

Friday 14th October

When we awoke there was a noticeable chill in the air which we hadn't experienced in a good while. This made us reluctant to pull ourselves out of bed but we had to face it, as we had somewhere we needed to be. After a shower and breakfast, Charlotte got in some stretches and exercise in preparation for the little golf session we had line up. The weather forecast had been positive but when we checked it first thing, it had changed dramatically, with heavy skies and showers now on their way. We'd already paid though, so we drove down to the shores of Lake Taupō and parked up. The activity we'd booked was a Hole in One challenge. From the edge of the lake you had to hit a ball towards a pontoon around 100 yards away. If you got the ball in the hole, you'd win $10,000. In our heads it seemed easy but we watched a few people give it a whirl and none got close. The occasional ball hit but it would just bounce off and splash in the water. We'd booked 50 balls each at a discounted rate and although we knew it would be almost impossible, it seemed like it would be a laugh for an hour and a half. We collected our pots of balls and chose our clubs. With neither of us having any experience or knowledge of golf, it was pretty much lucky dip. Assuming they were irons, we both picked a 7. We proved our uselessness at the game with numerous swings and misses before we actually made any contact with the first ball. Unsurprisingly, it plopped into the lake without troubling the pontoon. The rules were if you hit the pontoon you get an extra ball and I'm pretty sure I hit it once but couldn't be sure, as there were a couple of other (much better) people playing at the same time. Just over halfway through our balls, the man who ran the thing took pity on us and gave us a few tips on how to produce and powerful, accurate swing. It didn't really help though. After a couple of good swings old habits die hard and you are back to your old ways. The last balls plopped in the water and that was that, we weren't going to be getting any richer today unless we found a penny on the floor. We sheathed our clubs and returned to the car. We sat and watched a few others have a swing and both agreed that we'd probably pay to hit golf balls in to the lake, even if there wasn't a cash prize, so we'd both enjoyed it. We shifted the car to a more suitable spot and then started a walk around Lake Taupō. We'd no plans to circumnavigate it, as that would have taken days but we followed a path called the Great Lake Trail, which covered around 10km. We passed numerous lakeside motels and even a few bubbling hot springs. Fortunately, they didn't stink like Rotorua’s ones, as we'd only just got the stench out of our nostrils from the day before. As we made our way further around the lake, the wind  started to get colder and colder and by the time we sat down for lunch, it was blowing full in our faces. Rather than carry on when we'd finished eating, we thought we'd return to to the car, as we didn't like the look of the clouds that were massing on the horizon. The lake was packed full of bird life, with hundreds of Black Swans dotted around the shoreline, tending to their little Cygnets. By the time we got to the 1km marker that signified we were close to town, it started to rain, so we were pleased we'd turned round when we had. It was pretty clear the weather was in for the day, so we made sure our next visit was an indoor one. It was a short 5 minute drive out to the Huka Honey Hive, which was a large shop and info centre about all things bees and honey. There were 3 hives along one of the outside walls that, when  you were inside the building, had a glass panel as one of their walls so you could see the bees and the comb inside. It was all pretty interesting and we tried a few samples of different honeys, one of which was ginger and lemon flavour, which was very tasty. Our final honey taster was an ice cream each with honey and almond flavour ice cream. I'd asked for fig and honey but didn't realise until it was too late. The honey and almond was tasty though, so it wasn't all bad. By the time we left it was hammering down, so we decided to retire to the campsite and take shelter in the kitchen for the afternoon. We were lucky we got there when we did,as not long after, a huge group turned up and commandeered every other table in the kitchen. They seemed oblivious to the fact that they were taking over but we worked round them, even when one of them stood up and started stirring our saucepan. Out of stubbornness, we refused to shift after eating our curry and were in there long after they had left and gone to bed.

Saturday 15th October

We were pretty fed up with the campsite we were staying in. The group had been a pain the previous night, the owners were stingy with the wifi (which we needed for this blog and photos) and we were paying out full whack when half the facilities were closed and the pool was shut down. We decided to move to a different campsite, which was actually closer to the centre of town. We'd got our tent down, moved and up again before 11 and we were ready to head out for the day. We were heading for a water fall a little out of town that was easily accessible via a walk.  We passed through a small park and then moved out to a trail that was for mountain bikes as well as walkers. Slightly unnervingly, we were heading towards constant gunshots but eventually, we passed them and left them behind. We'd thought the walk was 2 hours one way, so when we'd been walking for 45 minutes and saw a sign saying we were 600 metres away, we were pleasantly surprised. It did seem like more than 600 metres but we got there in the end. They were called Huka Falls, Huka being the Maori word for foamy and when we got to the end of the falls we could see why. They ended there long but quick descent by foaming and bubbling at the bass. The falls were about 100 metres long and were more like Rapids than an actual waterfall. We found a seat near the falls and ate the lunch we'd brought with us, attracting some stares from the other tourists milling around. When we finished, we started the walk back in to town. We found a different path this time, which turned out to be the actual walking path and the previous  one was for mountain bikes. The walk was more pleasant, following the banks of the river before reaching a natural hot springs that can be used free of charge. A sign next to it did say that thieves operate in the area and we passed a couple of dodgy looking characters hanging around. When we got back to where we began, we walked in to town and spent an hour or so using the libraries wifi before they closed for the day. Our final visit in Taupō was a brewery called the Crafty Trout. We refuelled with a couple of beers each and a bowl of chips  to share. Charlotte reckoned the cider went down really well and I preferred the Porter. At $9 a glass we thought 2 each was plenty, so headed back to the campsite for the evening. We made a mistake by sitting in the car when we got back and then started to feel the effects of the alcohol we'd just had, eventually succumbing to a snooze. When we woke up we couldn't be bothered with cooking our jacket potatoes we'd planned, so opted for simple rice and veg instead and then crashed out in the tent for a good nights sleep.

James and Charlotte

Hold the line...

There will be a delay with the upcoming blogs due to poor Wi-Fi. Give it a week or so and we'll be back up and running. 

James and Charlotte 

Rotorua: "I love the smell of Sulphur in the morning"

Sunday 9th October

Despite struggling initially we did eventually fall off and get a decent nights sleep. We wanted to visit somewhere before leaving town though, so we were up pretty early  anyway. The clock had only just struck 8 and we were out of there. We drove up the coast for around 10 minutes and parked up in a car park at the start of the walk. The walk was out to a place called Cathedral Cove and the sign told us it would take about 45 minutes each way. Despite the early hour, there was still a few people clogging the car park and just starting the walk. The track turned out to be  clear and easy so we made it to Cathedral Cove in about 20 minutes in the end. The beach was fairly quiet but what made the walk worth it was the huge arch that stood to the left of the beach. As it was low tide we could walk through the archway to a separate beach that gets cut off at high tide. We made a quick foray on to the second beach but we could see the tide coming in incredibly quickly, so we didn't linger there too long. We aren't ones to hover anyway, so once we were satisfied we'd seen enough, we followed the track back to the car. We had a fairly long drive ahead of us, down the windy Coromandel roads to Rotorua. Our phones told us the journey would take us 3 hours and by  the time we arrived, they were spot on. We plumped for the usual campsite company and risked a tent site. It had poured with rain on our drive down and they had clearly received their fair share in Rotorua as the ground was rather waterlogged. We found the high ground on our pitch and put the tent up anyway. We had a quick lunch before heading out to have our first look around Rotorua. The town is most famous for having high geothermal activity, which contributes numerous spas, mud baths and sulphuric pits of death to the town and surrounding area. We had had a brief whiff of the sulphur smell up on Hot Water Beach the day before but we hadn't encountered it as of yet since arriving in Rotorua. Our campsite was pretty central, so it only took us around 10 minutes to walk to the centre of town, we had a nose through the info centre to see if there was anything we wanted to do and picked up a few pamphlets just incase. After that we set of to explore the Government Gardens. The gardens were almost a park located right next to Lake Rotorua. This seemed the easiest place to access the sulphuric death pits I mentioned earlier. We could see them steaming from across the well manicured lawns and it didn't take us long to get a nose full of that eggy smell. There were a number of funny looking trees dotted around that had no foliage in them whatsoever and a little sign informed us that they were Plane Trees, which seemed very apt. From there we found the bubbling pit, which used to be much bigger but another plaque told us it had been filled in years ago. There was another pit further around the gardens, located between the public baths and the museum, the building of which was originally the first baths in Rotorua. There were flowering tulips packed in to every flower bed and when we sat down for a few minutes, it was rather amusing to watch the Asian tourists takes photos of them as if they've never seen a tulip (or a flower for that matter) before. After our amusement, we took in a few more trees and statues that were dotted around the gardens before deciding if was time for a supermarket visit. We had a fair few days in Rotorua, so we wanted to leave things to do for ourselves and not rush in all guns blazing. It had just started to spit with rain when we departed so we rushed to the closest shop we could find, picked up our food and rushed back to the campsite. As we were around for a few days, we picked up a slab of mince and cooked up a big chilli that would last us the whole time we were in town. We'd had some respite from the sandflies the previous few days but seeing as there was an insect zapper in the kitchen and fresh bites on our legs, we had definitely entered their territory once more.

Monday 10th October

Somehow the clouds produced yet more rain to make it a bit of a damp night in the tent. When we got up though it had all calmed down a little bit. We were in no rush to get out so let the masses venture forth in their camper vans before heading out ourselves. Our campsite was conveniently located adjacent to the Kuirau Park, which was chocked full of various bubbling mud pools and steam vents. On our way in to town, we decided to stop by. Instead of taking the sensible, pavement route, we thought it would be a good idea to cut through the grassy park. By the time we made it to the first steaming pit, our feet were soaking having walked through puddles lurking in the long grass. The only consolation I suppose was that they weren't boiling pools of mud! We wandered round the various pools, wrinkling our noses at the very pungent eggy smell that the gases were producing. When we came across the foot soaking pools, we steered clear due to the somewhat homeless looking people swishing their feet in them, one of whom’s backside was hanging out their short. We left them to it, and started walking in to town. Unfortunately, on the way in, we had a slightly unsavoury experience. A couple of Maori’s, one male and one female were having a heated argument whilst walking up the pavement behind us. Eventually, they overtook us. When the male did, he turned, looked at our faces and told us to go back to our own country. This took us off guard but Charlotte did manage to get in a “how do you know we aren't in our own country?”. The female of the group told him he was stupid for saying that, we just left him to it. Finally, the lady went in to a shop and he sat on a bench, ironically asking a white local if he had a spare cigarette. Anyway, we were heading for the Government Gardens again, where we jogged our memories with a few things we'd forgotten about the previous day and paid a visit to the Rotorua Museum. We aren't usually ones for a museum but for once we thought we'd make an exception. The museum had a huge series of rooms on how the Maori’s came to New Zealand (or Aotearoa as they say), what caused them to do so and about the local area amongst other things. We spent half an hour looking around whilst eavesdropping on a tour before we hunting down a screen that showed a video about the Maori regiment during World War II. They fought all around the Mediterranean in Greece, North Africa and Italy and they garnered a bit of a fierce reputation. As any war story is, it was very sad but the survivors all seemed very proud of playing their part for the war effort. After the video we spent some more time looking round all the artefacts and pieces they had in the museum before hunting down the second video of the day. This one told us about Rotorua and tourism. The building we were in used to be the old bath houses and it told us about the huge 1886 volcanic eruption of Mount Tarawera  that destroyed the Pink and White terraces on the shores of Lake Rotomahana. The terraces were silica deposits that contained hot springs (Mum and Dad and anyone else who had been there think Pammukale). Again it was all really interesting and helped us get to know the area a bit better. With the videos out the way we headed down some stairs and explored the belly of the old spa building. It was where the mud baths were as well as all the pipes that kept the water running. Due to low ceilings I donned a hard hat to prevent any damage to my head, Charlotte was short enough to stroll underneath it all. The basement was rather creepy thanks to numerous short videos going off at the same time all along the corridors. The final stop was the viewing platform in the roof, from where we could see the town and the hills behind, as well as Lake Rotorua behind us. We'd been in the museum for almost 4 hours so by the time we were back to the streets of town, we were pretty hungry. Rather than splash out on a tourist trap of a restaurant, we headed back to the campsite and had some rolls and fruit. On our campsite there was a couple of geothermal hot pools for the use of paying guests. It was already gone 3, so we decided we'd make use of the pools for part of the afternoon. The water was heated to 38° and 40° and we made the mistake of getting in the warmer one first. There was an ominous sign that told us not to dip our heads under the water otherwise we'd run the risk of contracting Amoebic Meningitis, so we did as we were told. We realised our mistake when, despite only being 2° cooler, the 38° pool seemed cold. We didn't spend to long in the pools, as there never is really much to do in them. We scrubbed up and relaxed for the evening, tucking in to a dinner of chilli and fried potatoes.

Tuesday 11th October

At first we weren't really sure what to do with our day. Over breakfast we came up with a plan of wandering in to town, enjoying the lake and picking up a pin badge. It sounded pretty underwhelming to us too. Suddenly, a lightning bold struck and we remembered that we'd seen that there was a redwood forest nearby that we'd picked up a pamphlet for when we'd visited the visitor centre a few days previously. That sounded a lot better, so we prepared ourselves a packed lunch, tidied up the car and set off. The forest was only a 10 minute drive out of town, so we were there in no time. Parking in the car park plonked us right in the middle of the wonderful redwood trees. We picked up a map from the visitor centre and headed off on a walk. All the walks started from the same point, which was through a grove of redwoods via a gravel path and wooden walkway. The redwoods were really something to behold and they had been something I'd always wanted to see in the flesh. As most people do, I know them from their fame in the forests of California and when we found out they had their own forests worth near Rotorua, I really was surprised. It was clear to see how they got their names, their red barked trunks thrusting from the ground and scraping the sky above us. Some were bigger than others, from tiny little saplings to trunks you'd need around 10 people linked together to reach around. Our chosen walk took us out of the redwood forests and into thick rainforest. We'd chosen the 3 and a half hour walk and eventually, it turned off from the shorter treks available. We weren't surprised to find nobody else doing the walk we were. Other tourists are short on time and would have picked the quick walks to make the most of it. We crested a hill and ending up joining up with an old metal road. We managed to pick the pace up along the flat road and made really good time. We left the road, entering a valley that looked like it had seen its fair share of volcanic eruptions. Their were flattened trees on the hillside and what looked the occasional scorch mark on the floor. By the time we'd made time and down the second hill we could tell we were on the home stretch and started to see more signs of life. We passed a few mountain bikers and then found ourselves back amongst the redwoods, completing the circuit by joining up with the path we'd started on. We collapsed on a bench by the visitors centre and ate our lunch. We were starving as it was gone 2pm and we'd been walking for about 3 hours. After leaving the redwoods behind we drive into Rotorua, parking up and picking up a pin badge. As a bit of a treat, we bought ourselves an ice cream each from a recommended shop near the lake. We didn't visit the lake, opting to leave that for our second visit to the town. We returned to the campsite, content that we had done everything  we wanted to in the town of Rotorua. We still had a few geothermal places to visit outside of town but would do that on our drive south. With the sun shining during the late afternoon, we cracked open a beer and rented some pétanque balls from reception and played a couple of games on the strip they had at the campsite. It was quite enjoyable, even if the other campers were walking past giving us funny looks. When Charlotte won the first game and I won the second we thought we'd call it an honourable draw. We spent  the rest of the evening browsing some flights for after New Zealand and tucked in to our remaining chilli for dinner. 

James and Charlotte