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Published: April 29th 2006
Huka Falls
Yes, the photo is the right way up!Before heading to Rotorua we spent a day in Taupo where we bumped into 2 people from our South America Tour in the supermarket, of all places! After lunch with them, and discovering that we would also be in Sydney at the same time, we spent the afternoon visiting the local sites.
Huka Falls is supposed to be New Zealand's most popular attraction (it helps that it's free) and is a must-see in Taupo.
Honey Hive had free honey tasting (including one called Bee Nut Butter) and loads of glass bee-hives, into which
thousands of bees travelled to and fro from the outside world via see-through tubes. We also tried some honey ice-cream, and a shot of honey liqueur!
The area we were in is called the Volcanic Triangle and it's basically a massive thermal area. Wherever there is grass you'll normally see steam coming out because there are hot geysers everywhere. The Craters of the Moon is a massive area that contains loads of geysers and volcanic craters - pretty cool!
In Rotorua we had our worst weather day yet! We were woken soon after 6am with a
huge downpour of rain which lasted the entire
day. Oh it's also ANZAC Day (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) which is their Remembrance Day, and another date that is different here is Mother's Day (coming soon!). We still managed to see a Maori Village, Church and Meeting House and a cool Museum.
Maoris are their indigenous population over here, but they are much more integrated than in other countries. In the last 20 years there has been a 'revival' and now most schools teach the Maori language. We also found out that they own Shotover Jet in Queenstown!
After Rotorua we visited reputedly the best thermal area in New Zealand, Wai-O-Tapu. There is a geyser there, called the Lady Knox Geyser, which erupts every day at 10.15am (turns out the man throws soap down it to make it foam up!). But the eruption was pretty cool; at first it foamed slowly before spurting water up to 10m high, and continued to eject water long after we left.
A walk round Wai-O-Tapu was pretty eye-opening, with hot, colourful pools (from all the minerals) everywhere we looked. Highlights included the Champagne Pool, which has a surface temperature of 74C and therefore lots of bubbles and
loads of steam, as well as a bright orange shoreline.
Hot mud-pools and steaming craters surrounded us, the eggy stench of sulphur never too far away, but eventually we came to the Devil's Bath, a great big pool of bright green liquid. Scroll down for the photo!
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mum and dad
non-member comment
I like the champagne waters. Are you bringing any back with you? Nicely cooled please!! xxxxxxxxxxxxx