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Published: July 29th 2010
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Hello!
We're finally at a campsite with a decent (and more importantly FREE) web connection! Hopefully I'll be able to put some pictures on here - although I have said that before...
I've just had to check with Sarah what we've been up to - I'd completely forgotten some of the last few days, clearly I've been having too much fun!
We went to the Te Papa museum in Wellington and had a great few hours. We could have spent longer in there but we had a massive hunger attack and had to leave an hour before closing time. We did get the best of the natural history (including the only Colossal Squid on show in the world) and Maori history/culture bits though. We also stopped off at the Mac's Brewery Bar for a chance to try the local brew.
From there we headed north to Ohakune, allegedly the 'carrot capital' of NZ, and Sarah was very disappointed to not find any carrots there (her current food fad is the humble carrot). There is supposed to be a carrot festival there every year, but we'd missed it.
Then we went up to to Whakapapa village in
the Tongariro National Park. Whakapapa is pronounced fa-ka-pa-pa; please feel free to giggle. We're really enjoying the Maori names here, although we struggle with pronunciation most of the time! In the park are 3 volcanic peaks including Mount Ngauruhoe, which doubled as Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings films. Unfortunately all 3 of the volcanoes were covered in cloud when we were there but we did get to see the Silica Rapids, a small waterfall/stream thing that has laid down a layer of aluminum sulphate making it look like a layer of yellow slime has coated it (more impressive to look at than I've made it sound).
Next on the agenda was Taupo - another hot-spot of volcanic activity. We spent a great night in a local Irish bar and then the next day relaxing in front of the large VHS collection available at the hostel we were in (well, parked outside of). I was just about able to put aside my distaste for the horrible grainy VHS pictures. Just about. The machine only chewed up one tape after all. We stopped off at the hot water stream on the way out of time, there is a
thermal stream rising out of the ground in the area and aside form offering the chance for a massive geothermal power station the rising hot water gives everyone the chance to sit in a hot spa pool in the local park. There is also the 'Craters of the Moon', an active area that has loads of bubbling mud pools and steam rising from the ground, and a dammed river which they let loose a few times a day creating a very entertaining series of rapids (we didn't raft down them though - they weren't hot!).
North of Taupo is Rotorua, and as the tourist trap of the North Island we had to stop in and see Te Puia, a volcanically active National Park with active geysers, a kiwi house and some good Maori stuff including a mock village, song and dance show and nationally recognised caving and weaving school. A load of kids showed up the second night we were there; it turned out we'd chosen the time that the national high school haka (Maori war dance - you may have seen it before they play rugby) championships were on. We didn't go to see it - the panto
at Te Puia was enough for us!
We left Rotorua heading further North, stopping briefly in Matamata which is now famous as being near the Hobbiton set, again from Lord of the Rings, and then stayed the night in Whangamata, enjoying the best the locals had to offer (Craigie's Chipper - a debatably famous fish 'n' chip shop). The next day was a day of mostly driving, although we stopped off at Hot Water Beach - a geothermal anomaly where hot thermal spring water bubbles out and down through a beach. You can dig your own hole in the sand and sit in your own spa pool next to the sea! It was quite entertaining, although fairly busy in the 3 metre stretch where the water was hot. We managed to get a fair pool going, although with the flow of water the pool filled itself in quite quickly and required almost-constant digging. It was also bloomin' hot if you accidentally stepped into the hot stream part! We then took a leisurely drive around the Coromandel Peninsula, finally seeing some scenery that rivalled the South Island, and stopped for the night in Thames.
That was last night, today
we drive for most of the day again, reaching Paihai this evening and stopping here ready for a couple of days in the Bay of Islands. Hopefully it'll be as nice as we've heard!
Tim
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