Out & About

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Finally we got the kayaking sorted; no pics in the water though as I risked losing my camera . We started at the top of the Waikato River, at the top (It's NZ's longest one). No whitewater stuff but some interesting currents to navigate. The biggest danger was from the air actually, with cormorants and shags in the trees threatening to dump on us and on the other side, the Taupo Bungy jumpers! They sent some divers the other day and came up with wallets, car keys, false teeth and other goodies. It's about £40 to jump but if you're on a budget, you can strip naked a jump for free! Hmmm, let's move on ....

After an hour of paddling we stopped off at the Hot Pools; superheated water that comes out of the rocks that can boil an egg. The pools come in various temperatures to suit Abi was the first to dive in the river and over to the pools. Our party was made up with folk from Aussie, South Africa, Czech Republic and Scotland as well as us.

It was a great experience and good to get out before we got to Huka Falls (see earlier blog).

After seeing the stunning view of the volcanoes we decided to head off to Tongariro National Park. I looked at doing the Tongariro Apline Crossing when we were planning but it was too wintery. We set off and the weather was OK but by the time we reached Whakapapa Village, on the side of Mount Ruapehu the cloud had come in and we couldn't see a thing. The National Park was lovely but we didn't get to see what we came for which was a shame. We spent some time in the visitors centre and met the kayak guides who were hoping to do some skiing. I've done a link to the Tongariro Park to show what we missed, but it was an enjoyable trip all the same.

This is what they look like

It's where the Pacific and the Austro/Indian plates meet which makes the area so unstable. The Pacific plate, 100km below the surface gets pushed down and the water with the plate forms the magma that then forces its way up through the weakness in the earth's crust. It was certainly an education even if the vocanoes were a bit shy.

We're off to sunny Whatakane on the northern pacific coast now, although we'll need to make the most of the weather as a couple of fronts are coming in.

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