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Published: November 15th 2006
Well... this blog should have regaled you with tales of sky diving and of climbing volcanoes. There should have been unforgettable images of freefall and of the inner steaming vents of Tongariro. Unfortunately, the weather man had other ideas for our Central Plateau stay.... First day in Taupo, we were booked to sky dive at 9am. We awoke early and for the first time since making the decision to drop and committing to throwing ourselves out of a perfectly good plane, we were no longer scared but really excited! We opened the curtains on this big day, to be greeted with grey skies and the spit-spotting of persistent drizzle. The jump was off! They don't drop in clouds, only on clear skies and so they put the jump back to the next slot two hours later, setting a trend for the day.
We had to fill out our day whilst waiting for the clouds to clear. We visited Taupo's nearby geothermal park, "The Craters of the Moon" and the nearby Geothermal Power Station. Next update - "still no go, try again at 1pm". Off we went to see Huka Falls, an immensely powerful torrent of water and then onto
Mount Doom
Looking very unmenacing. It's actually called Ngauruhoe.Aratiatia Dam where the water is more under control and the crowds gather to see the daily release. Skies still pretty grey, the outlook was "not good - maybe 3pm". We went to the Volcanic Activity Centre and by that stage due to all the waiting and wondering, had started to resent the sky diving concept which seemed to be putting a dampener on the day (that and the drizzle). It was finally a relief when the call came through confirming that the day was a complete wash-out and there would be no jumping at all. No more fearful waiting lifted a great weight off our shoulders.
That wasn't the end of the sky didiving Taupo dream because when we returned from Welly we tried again and in a bad case of deja vu, spent another day disappointed. On the second occasion we also planned to do the Tongariro Crossing, a one day trek across the volcanic plateau past the Tongariro volcanoes. Like the sky diving, it's a fair weather excursion only and so proved to be another NZ treat that slipped thorugh our fingers.
After spending three days in the Central Plateau with little to really show
for it, we were a bit down and so set off to Rotorua to salvage our visit with a trip to the colourful geothermal park, Wai-O-Tapu. Would you believe it, we scored a gloriously sunny day but any chance of sky diving had long gone and with the Tongariro crossing requiring a 6am start, there was no turning back.
Wai-O-Tapu was certainly worth the entrance fee just to see Lady Knox Geyser erupt at 10:30am, as it has done every day in many years. The secret is soap, which is dropped into the vent to break the surface tension in the water to initiate the eruption - yes, it's artificial. It would erupt every other day anyway but far more unpredictably - not good for tourists! We worshipped this hot steaming vent like we do its namesake, our own Lady Eleanor Knox, then joining the throngs of tourists, headed into the rest of park to see nature's colourful and very smelly display. The whiff of bad eggs is a bit unpleasant but you soon get used to it. The smell is even noticeable in the city of Rotorua - there is no refuge. The colours though, they take more
getting used to. It's a real onslaught on the visual senses seeing bright green pools, yellow sulphur stained landscape and the orange iron tinged champagne pool - it certainly makes for some good photos. A bubbling, stinking mud pool caps off the visit and for us it was just in time as the drizzle began again - apparently a feature of the centre of the North Island but certainly not a welcome one!
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Carolyn
non-member comment
Wow!
Just had a big long catch up on your adventures! Sounds like the travelling life is treating you well! If you are heading to Auckland anytime soon - get yourselves to Mud Brick vineyard. Matt assures me its the best chardonnay he's ever tasted.! lots of love, Caz xxxxxxxxxxxxxx