Geo-thermal to caves

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Mar. 2 Back in Rotorua
Quiet day today. Did take the time to explore the museum here. It was originally build as a thermal/medical spa. The building is very impressive and was well worth the time we spend there. It is currently being restored so half of it was closed.
Tomorrow we are off to Taupo.

March 3 To Taupo

Today is a shorter travel day with our first stop at Wai-O-Tapu, a thermal wonderland. This another of NZ’s many volcanic areas but is a very colorful one. We only had about an hour to take a look, but well worth the run around the grounds. We started with watching a geyser blow its cool. This geyser was enhanced by adding rocks around it to create a cone, and then it is seeded to make it blow on a timetable for us tourists. Next we wandered around the extensive thermal fields with the many mud pools, boiling water and colorful pools. It never ceases to amaze me as to how much geo thermal activity there is on these islands. Hopefully the pictures will do this area justice.
From there it was off to Taupo, the adrenaline capital of NZ. We stopped at a bungi jumping place and watched as several people did the plunge - no thank you, not for me - and we dropped off the folks heading to the skydiving centre. Again, I’ll leave it to the younger set.
Taupo is a nice place but we only booked one night here. We plan to stop over again on our way back north. But even if we had wanted to stay, we couldn’t have found accommodations. This is the weekend of the famed Iron Man Competition which is centred out of here. We saw a number of competitors training in the lake, biking, and running. There is a whole park area set aside with the event tents and staging areas. Would have been fun to stay, but must move on.

March 4 Travel day to Tongariro National Park

Fairly long travel day today, but with the Magic Bus it has been comfortable and simple. Our major stop today was at the Waitomo Glowworm Caves. So, I have refrained from jumping off towers, bridges and out of airplanes, but did manage to talk Darrel into joining me in jumping into an underground river. Five of us from our bus did the two hour long Black Water Rafting trip through the glowworm caves. What a unique experience. We started by squeezing ourselves into heavy, full body wetsuits, that included booties, the suit, a jacket, white rubber boots, and a helmet with a light attached. Next we hopped into a van and were taken to a field where we had to lumber across in all our refinery. Then it was down some stairs where we picked up inflated inner tubes and down more stairs. This is a real cave, vs. all the artificially lit ones we have been in, in the past. First we had to sit in the cave for a few minutes so our eyes could adjust to the darkness, and when looking up at the ceiling, we saw it was covered in small, bright spots. This was the excrement from the glowworms, The worms themselves are a couple cm long and thin as a pencil line. The spin a ‘web’ that hangs from the roof in thin rope strands. This is how they catch their dinner. At this point, our guide, Rodney, created a loud booming noise causing all of us to jump and the glowworms to glow even more brightly.
After our eyes had adjusted to the dark we continued on into the cave, using our lights for visibility. We started on dry land but very quickly got into mud and gradually deeper and deeper water. With stops along the way to learn about the worms and the cave, we finally made it to the deeper river. This is when we joined together in a raft which consisted of placing our feet on the tube in front of us, and under the armpits of its passenger. We drifter this way through the tunnel, some areas wide, others so narrow that Darrel had to push himself through. All the while our lights were off and the glowworms gave off enough light for us to feel there was a light on. Finally we came to our first ‘waterfall’ that was actually a dammed area. We took turns jumping over this, backwards, with our inner tubes held behind for landing. Made a big splash, but the water wasn’t very deep. Floating through the caves individually now, through deep water, we came to the second ‘waterfall’ This one was much higher but had been turned into a waterslide. Fun. From there it was a drift until we got to the area we climbed out of the cave. All through the cave are those marvelously glowworms.
The trip finished with a very nice hot shower and hot mushroom soup. A definite must do if you are ever in this part of the world.
After the caves we headed of to the National Parks. Unfortunately the rain has finally caught up with us and visibility is not good. After arriving at the park we detoured up into the alpine area for a look at the mountains that weren’t really visible. The major mountain here, the volcano that was featured in the Lord of the Rings, as Mt. Doom, is covered in clouds. We did stop for a short 20 minute return walk to the creek nearby, which is where the scene with Gollum eating the raw fish was filmed.
We had planned to spend three nights here are the park, but because the weather is so wet, we have decided to move on to Wellington tomorrow. So after a group dinner tonight, it was off to bed for another early rise tomorrow. (Our room looks out over ‘Mt. Doom, just can’t see it)

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Photos

Chief Darrel
At Maori Village