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Published: November 10th 2008
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After lots of debating, we decided to start the day with a trip to the Polynesian Spa. This was the place recommended by our guide book to sample the thermal hot pools,. We’d also picked up the leaflet and it looked like my sort of place.
When we arrived we decided to buy a pass to the deluxe lake retreat spa - there were lots of other options but we thought that the more expensive one (£15 each) would put off families so it would be quiet. We were right; there were only about another ten people in there when we arrived. There were four hot pools. The first started at 36 degress, the next 38, then 40 then the final one at 42. We had been warned to start off at the coolest first so we did just that.
The weather was lovely and sunny but as it was morning there was still a bite to the air, especially when you walked out of the changing room in your swimwear. We quickly plunged into the first pool. It was lovely and warm, like getting into a nice hot bath. We quickly got used to the temperature and moved
up to the next pool. There wasn’t too much difference between them and we enjoyed sitting in the hot pool admiring the lake view. It was a shame about the smell though; it was very strong and we were pleased that there were showers in the changing rooms otherwise we’d have gone around smelling like rotten eggs all day.
The next pool felt a lot hotter than 40 degress and our cheeks started turning pink with the warmth. We didn’t stay in there long before moving to the hottest pool. The sun had come out by this time so not only were we sitting in hot water but we had sun shining on our faces too. We were pleased to get back into the cooler pool and start the process all over again.
When we felt wrinkly we decided it was time to get out.
We cooked ourselves a quick lunch in the van before setting off to the Kiwi nature reserve just down the road. They take eggs from the wild, incubate them, hatch them and rear them, then release them back into the wild again. A wild kiwi has a 5% chance of survival but
for one reared in the reserve that figure rises to something like 75%. On the guided tour we saw some of the eggs and the incubators, then we saw a chick that was two days old. The eggs were big but the chick was massive compared to the size of the egg. Apparently they are jammed right into the egg and once they pop out there would be no way you could fit them back into it. A day after birth they’ve gone from being a scrawny baby, to puffing out and being full of feathers.
The highlight of the tour was seeing two actual kiwi birds. They were in a feigned habitat in a darkened room and it looked just like a bit of forest. They are nocturnal so the lights were kept low during the day and turned on slowly overnight so that they are around for people to look at during the trips. They were quite big birds, with feathers that looked like soft fur. They had big feet and a long beak which they used to forage as well as for balance. As they get a bit older they go outside into the large pen
and then eventually are taken back to where the egg was found. The birds are all tracked via microchip - we even saw a couple get chipped in front of us. Chipping also means they know which birds to vaccine at later dates.
It was a really worthwhile experience. It’s a shame that you can’t give them a cuddle though as they look so soft and huggable.
Time was getting on so we set off to the Wai-O-Tapu thermal wonderland. Unfortunately as it was getting late we didn’t have time to do the longer walks, so we just took the shortest route through the various pools. There were craters, boiling mud pools and finally we arrived at the colourful pools where deposits had built up to form a vibrant orange colour. The smell was still very much with us and all of the pools gave off lots of steam. If you were unlucky you’d be taking a photo when the wind would change and your find yourself immersed in smelly steam. One of the final pools was called the Devil’s Bath and it was the most amazing shade of green I’ve ever seen.
On the way over
to our next stop we decided to call in to Huka Falls, which generates a lot of the North Islands electricity. It was pretty awesome and would have been great fun doing a jet boat trip up to it but it was already almost 6pm and we had quite a drive ahead of us.
The roads over to Waitomo Caves went right through the countryside. There were mountains in the distance and green fields to both sides of us. It was beautiful. That was all a bit overshadowed by the fact we needed to get to our campsite before the office closed at 8pm. We finally got there at 7.50pm. Nothing like cutting it fine.
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