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Published: February 21st 2009
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After we stayed at the duck campsite, we went into Rotorua to make a few purchases - a small BBQ, a solar shower (which is really a black water pouch that you lie in the sun to warm up) and a latern for those nights that we were away from a campsite. We traipsed about the mall in the blazing heat, visibly wilting and then made our way to a routine campsite at Ngongotaha (those names get better don't they??) to make full use of all the facilities. It reminded me of parking in a carpark which was a mixture of gravel and grassed areas. Compact was the word. Still, everything was clean and everyone was friendly so can't really complain.
The next day, we decided to buy our most important purchase to date - yep, a fishing rod! We bought that plus a few fake fishes that you tie on the end of the line and they have hooks attached (called a lure) and of course, a permit to make it all legal. We were all set up so at lunch time, we drove to another lake (you might have gathered that there's a few around here),
Paul
looking cool as he casts off with his shades on... had lunch and then got down to assembling the rod, line and lure. Paul had bought a book about fishing and made a few attempts to join the line to the trace (as far as I could work out, the trace is just a thinner line that you attach the bait to and as it's so thin and see-through, the fish can hardly see it in the water). However, as he was getting seriously wound up in trying to do this knot called a bloodknot, I told him to pass it to me and hey presto, I do a perfect bloodknot first time round. Well done me! So I am now chief knot tyer. We practised our casting techniques for a while (well, Paul showing me what to do and how to recover it out of the weeds). Once we'd got the hang of it, we decided to look for our next spot to camp, have our first BBQ and squeeze in a bit of evening fishing as well. We decided to head to Lake Okataina which had been recommended to us by the guy who hired us the campervan and at the end of a long and windy road,
The first BBQ
As you can see - v picturesque but my god, I nearly fell asleep waiting for the darn thing to cook! we found it - a fabulous spot which was almost deserted other than a boat and waterskiier. One problem - no camping allowed. There was a lodge nearby so we could stay in a room but if you weren't staying at the lodge, you couldn't stay by the lake. Oh well. We'll test the BBQ and rod out while we're here. We walk round to the edge of the beach and then in about a foot of water around the edge of the lake before I'm told that this is the spot. We take turns with the rod but no luck and eventually, we head back to the van to have our first BBQ. Now the location we chose was very scenic but not well thought out as it was a bit exposed and therefore a tad windy which meant that it took bloomin' ages for our first batch of sausages and chicken to cook. While we were waiting, we found our next place to camp in the campsite guide and made up the bed so that we would be ready to leave after the meal.
The meal over (after about an hour's cooking time), we packed up and
Paul and I
swimming in the river. drove to a very small town called Kawerau which, according to our campsite guide "has declared itself a campervan friendly town..." and as a result, there are a couple of free powered sites opposite the park. Excellent. We find the place (and discover that you need a key to access the free power but we don't care as we're only staying for one night) and go to sleep.
The following morning, we hear a few cars pull up nearby but not too close to warrant our looking out the window or even getting up. However, at approximately 9am, we hear a tannoy speaker "Right everyone, welcome to Kaweau North school's annual sports day.." We open bleary eyes and have a look outside - yes, you guessed it, the whole school is assembled in the park, a mere minute away from our campervan along with teachers and parents all coming to watch the little possums... no lie in here then!. We had already decided what we were going to do today - not far from where we had stayed was a place called Tarawera Falls which, as the name suggests is a waterfall. We also found out from the adjoining
tourist office that there was another DOC (Dept of Conservation) campsite not far from the waterfall. Right then - plan. We drove to the campsite first which is next to the outlet of Tarawera River from Lake Tarawera, thinking we would park up and walk the 2.5km to the waterfall. However, when we got there, it was such an idyllic place - the lake and river having crystal clear and warm waters that we decided to stay a couple of nights and went for a swim in the river. Later on, we walked round the side of the lake to try our luck with fishing again - and we did actually catch a fish - but not in the normal way. We had hit a patch where the hook was getting stuck in weed almost every time and on one occasion, we thought we were going to have to cut the line when suddenly, Paul freed the hook and up to the surface came a load of weed. When I was disentangling it, something moved within the weeds and there was a little fish, about 3 inches long, not only tangled in the weeds but with the hook through it's
tail, of all places. You'll be pleased to know that my childhood evenings spent fishing down by the River Wreake with my dad were not wasted and I deftly removed the hook from the tail and little fish swam away just fine.
After fishing, it was sunset so Paul had to take the customary sunset photo's and we walked back to our van in the dark to remember that we hadn't washed up from lunch and needed to in order to have tea (due to limited crockery and cutlery in the van). So there I was, washing up in luke warm water, on the ground at the back of the van with the latern for light when 3 people carrying a torch walk over and I recognise the older couple in the other van who we'd seen earlier and another German lady. "We've come to look at the Wallabies and wondered if you wanted to see them?" said the older woman. I called Paul and we stood outside our van and saw, via the torch light, at least a dozen wallabies all in the grassy clearing where our van was parked. They didn't mind us being there and even
Tarawera Falls
That day, it just did not stop raining - and we were SOAKED! when the torchlight was shone on them, they just carried on grazing. They were just like minature kangaroos and some of them hopped about while we were watching. Right on our doorstep!
The next day, the older woman brought us some trout that her husband had caught that morning and we put it on the barbie - delicious. Doesn't taste fishy at all which may sound strange. This really doubled our desire to catch one! Sadly, we were unsuccessful that day too.
We had decided to walk to the waterfall on our last day there as we had been preoccupied with swimming and fishing. However, this appeared to be a bad idea as we woke to torrential rain and it did not ease at all. We therefore drove to another point which meant that the waterfall was only a 20 minute walk instead of a 2 hour one. I could handle that. Well within minutes of leaving the van, we were both drenched but proceeded on to the falls anyway. The water comes out of the rock face as the river goes underground for the previous 30 metres. it was too wet to stand and and appreciate them for long and we walk back to the van, peel off layers and drive on to the next camping spot.
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