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Route
Taupo - Tauranga - Rotarua
Diary
There was very little apart from pine forest between Napier and Taupo, but at points along the way we saw the odd cloud of what seemed to be steam rising from the middle of the forest, and once in Taupo realised that volcanic gases are being released all over the place. Taupo is surrounded by hot pools and geothermally active areas and many local houses have boreholes to provide all their heat and hot water.
We visited 'Craters of the Moon' which has geysers, steaming fumeroles and bubbling mud, and the craters close to the wooden walkway provided huge fascination for the girls as they could feel the heat of the steam and hear the hissing - like a boiling kettle.
We've done a lot of swimming as there are hot water pools everywhere and even our campsite in Taupo had a little geothermally heated pool. Just deep enough for Thea to touch the bottom, and she's suddenly got mad keen to swim - head straight under the water and sort of random kicking and arm flailing. With goggles on she has become unstoppable, but the only problem is that
she hasn't got the hang of coming up for breath and she is so determined not to be helped that she is permanently gasping for air when you finally drag her head up as you think she can't possibly last a second longer. One time she made herself vomit with her determination to stay underwater. However, we weren't sure whether it was her determination to stay underwater or the intake of such vast quantities of pool water that resulted in a closure of the kiddies pool in one of the public baths! We were both mortified and must have looked ridiculous frantically trying to flush the floaters out of the pool. After that we stuck to dry land for a day and cycled out of Taupo to the Volcanic activity centre. Here there is an earthquake simulator: you sit on a bench and experience an earthquake of magnitude 6.3, I found it really quite violent but both the girls were in hysterics shouting 'again again', eventually they managed to operate the switch themselves and basically rode the earthquake for about an hour - with us kicking them out every time someone else looked interested. So at least we can be
sure of being in good company if there was an eruption or earthquake (of which there are a few definately overdue here!)
We only stay in campsites when we need to do a load of washing, otherwise we normally just park up at some nice spot and hope that come pub chucking out it doesn't turn out to be a boy racer track. In Tauranga we parked in a back garden. However, it did belong to friends Neil and Jacqui. We had a lovely weekend there: eating out; climbing up mount Maunganui - where we could see the Orca whales swimming in the bay; and another trip to to a hot water pool - salt water this time.
We backtracked to Rotorua for Ben's birthday and enjoyed a Huangi - a Maori feast steamed in an underground oven. It was all part of a Maori (correct pronunciation sounds like moldy) evening of entertainment. It started with a few scantily clad men paddling a war canoe (called a 'waka') up and down a small stream singing some war songs - in the freezing cold. Then we all removed to a theatre, where Maori women joined in with the men
to sing some songs and perform with their poi - balls on strings - that they slap with their palms in time to the music. Lily and Thea were rapt by the whole perfomance and didn't flinch at the traditional Hakka welcome which is both lound and quite aggressive. The facial expressions are amazing and the widening of the eyes in addition to the extended tongue must have been quite fearsome explorers like Cook. It was a great evening and Lily announced when she grows up she wants to be a Maori and paddle a canoe!
I took a short trip to Ohinemutu, where a church and Marae sit opposite one another. Both fully decked out in exquisite Maori carvings, but only the church is open to the public. Frustratingly most of the interesting Maori places and buildings are of such spiritual significance that they are closed to the public. To see Marae's you have to go to a museum to see a reproduction or be incredibly lucky and get yourself a personal invitation to one. En route to Ohinemutu you walk past the steaming Catholic church it is surrounded by steam issuing from holes in the ground all around it. There is even steam venting off besides some of the graves - all raised above ground to avoid cooking the corpse! Literally all across Rotorua are steaming holes, many encroaching on properties, cemetries and playing fields and in some cases engulfing them. The level of geothermal activity on show is quite amazing. I went for a run through the sulphur flats at one end of town and the walkway dodges round numerous gas releases, and steaming heaps of yellowed earth. Someone had said that the smell of sulphur gets to you after a while, but generally I thought it barely noticable...though many of you may say that I am probably immune to such olfactory irritation considering who I live with!
After a bit of culture at the old bath house - it basically rotted due to the mineral content of the water so now it is a museum - it was back to the hot pools for a few days and a visit to Wai-O-Tapu to view more geysers, steaming mud pools and bubbling mud. After which we had to leave the thinnest bit of the earth's crust on the planet and head for the Cormandel, home of many who are apparently off the planet.
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