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Published: June 20th 2008
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Well our plan of working in Tauranga never really happened. We arrived at the worst time of year for work, as it was the gap between picking and pruning which meant there were lots of backpackers trying to find work. So after a couple of nights there and at a neighbouring town - Mount Manganui we decided to head off. However Mt Manganui was a nice spot with a mount which Ian took an early evening walk up, and we also took a couple of walks along the shore. In addition to this, we decided as we could not find work the sensible thing to do was to spend some money so we bought a laptop! However this has come in handy - Ian now has a CV!! Also it means we can type the blog offline so possibly will mean you get more regular updates - however I doubt it!
From there we decided to head to Rotorua, where we looked for work and did a few activities! On our first afternoon we headed for some zorbing, which we always enjoy. No dramas this time either - see pictures. After this we headed off to the gondola and up
the mountain (or to us English a cable car!) Once up there we did a bit of lugging - however Pru managed to crash on the first bend. Although I got the hang of the breaks after that! We were going to dine up there looking out over a lit up Rotorua, however had a heart attack at the prices and had a lovely Nandos in town!
The next day we did a bit more job searching before an afternoon of white water rafting. The high point of this was coping with a dozen or so school girls! This was the river Ian never managed to do last time we were here as it was flooded. The reason to do this river it is a grade 5, and has the highest commercially rafted waterfall in the world on it standing about 7m tall. This was great fun even with the school kids, and you never know we might give it a go again in the south island! Glad I managed to convince Pru to do it!
Then the next morning - Saturday, we did plan to go to Wai-O-Tapu but did not sleep well the night before so
decided to take it easier for the day. This meant a trip to the buried village. It was the 124th anniversary of the eruption of Mt Tanganaru, so entry to the village and museum was free. Here we learnt about one of the earliest tourist attractions in New Zealand, and what many decided should of been the 8th wonder of the world. The village grew around what were called the ‘pink and white terraces’ these were dried silica in a terrace formation with different temperature pools on each level getting hotter the higher they went. This covered a massive area and is thought to be the biggest ones and most stunning ones whose existence has ever been recorded. As you may have guessed they no longer existed and were destroyed during in the volcano's eruption, along with the villages that were on the volcano and surrounded it. Here we saw some of buildings that had been dug out, and read and heard the stories/accounts of those that experience the eruption. That evening we headed to a local sports bar and watched the rugby - we won’t say anymore about that apart from the food was good!
The next day
we did head to Wai-o-Tapu which is a few km south. Here we saw a variety of formations caused by geothermal activity. The first site was the Lady Knox Geyser, she was discovered by some prisoners that were clearing forest. They decided rather than having to heat water that her warm water would make doing the washing a bit easier so brought it to her one day. On adding the soap they got a fright as she erupted blasting the washing metres into the air. Now at 10:15 every day they add a similar catalyst to Lady Knox and visitors such as us get the amazing site of her erupting. After this we went on a walk around some craters, sulphur mounts, mud pools, green lakes, yellow lakes, waterfalls, and some stunning pools. One of our best half days out defiantly worth the visit (we have 160 photos for those who want to see more!). After this we went to a local campsite for the night which had a variety of hot spring pools - sit and soak tubs, passive pools and a large kiddie pool, which was perfect for a bit of relaxing.
The next day we headed
back to Rotorua to continue the job hunt and soon gave in and headed off to Waitomo! This is where some of New Zealand’s best caves are. The next day we went to see the glow-worm caves in the morning and in the afternoon I (Ian) headed off for some black water rafting. This is sitting on a large rubber ring and floating down a river in a cave. I had a great time and enjoyed the amusement of 3 Irish girls!! That evening we headed off to a local pub and had a drink with the Irish girls and a couple of caving instructors.
The next day we headed off to Taupo. On arrival, we just had a quick wonder round town and made plans for the next day. We also had a quick look for work and phoned a man about a job read on and we shall tell you some more...... After this we also had a quick drive to the Huka falls, which is an amazing sight it is on New Zealand's longest river, and is huge!
The next day we went to Huka Prawn Park, here we learnt about the Prawn, which is
surprisingly fascinating. This prawn park is the only one in New Zealand, and grows a Malaysian Freshwater Prawn. It is use to growing in a much warmer climate than Taupo can offer it! Luckily the land is situated right next door to a Geothermal Power Plant, so they have developed the technology to use their waste heated water to heat the water from the freshwater stream that runs adjacent to the site to grown the prawns in. This is the only place in the world that does this. Whilst there we learnt lots of prawn facts, and had a tour round of the prawn hatchery which include hand feeding baby prawns. We then spent a couple of hours prawn fishing! You would think our sea fishing experience could come in handy but this is a whole new kettle of prawns! Ian did not take to it so well and after two hours I (Pru) had caught just one little prawn. However this was still larger than the average British prawn and we had it cooked for us and we shared it! The little bit we had tasted good! After this we headed off to the Abitiatiaia Dam. This is part
of a Hydroelectric Power Station, and currently opens just twice a day. We did try and get a visit to one of these power stations but got told tours stop 6 years ago! Anyway, we arrived for the 2pm opening, and watched it go. It was amazing to see how quick the water rose and fell, as the water passed out into the pool and through some rapids. It was all over in 15 minutes (gates being open for 7.5 minutes)! A lot of water in a short space of time.
We then headed off back to Rotorua, to follow up our leads on some work! Then this afternoon we met a man about some Feijoa tree pruning. A Feijoa is a fruit for those of you who are not as well educated as us (Ian wrote that!!!). These are common here and Ian likes them, I’m not so keen! We start tomorrow! We will be staying at the orchard - which is much cheaper than a campsite - free. We will be working with just the owner with electric secateurs cutting back the trees. We share the site with two fat pigs, 5 steers, and a dozen chucks!
We will see how it all goes but hope to have 4 weeks work here before finishing of our tour of the north island and the plan is to base ourselves at the southern tip in Wellington for a couple of months till mum, dad and Jan arrive if all goes to plan!
As we are staying on the orchard outside the town, there is no internet, phone etc. so we may not be in much contact or have much to tell for the next month! Catch up soon!
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