Advertisement
Published: January 26th 2010
Edit Blog Post
It rained through the whole night and was still raining in the morning. We headed off to the Thermal Park to see the Lady Knox geyser erupt at 10:15a. They force it to erupt by feeding it some soap. At first it starts to foam, then bubble, then BAM! eruption. It was raining, but still really cool to see. I've never seen a geyser before, so I really enjoyed it. I guess it keeps erupting for about an hour. Luckily we had some rain jackets to wear, because it rained the whole time we were at the park. We walked around and looked at different craters and thermal pools. There were different colors in the pools because of the different minerals. We walked on all three of the pathways available and even though it was raining it was fun. I really enjoyed looking at the different pools and formations. I really liked this one pool at the end that was bright green, called the Devil's Bath. Also the Champagne Pool had this amazing orange color in it. It's incredible that colors so bright can occur naturally.
We got into the van to eat some lunch and as soon as we
did, it started pouring!! I was happy we got in when we did. We decided to drive south to Napier. It was super rainy as we headed south to Napier on the Thermal Explorer Highway (I think it was called something like that). It cuts through the mountains and our van had a hard time keeping up the speed. With the weather the way it was, that was okay though. We made it eventually. We stopped along the way at the Honey Hive, and sampled different honey's and some mead. There was about 10-12 different types of honey available, and each tasted different. I had no idea - I always thought honey just tasted like honey. We found two that we both liked and got those: Kamahi Honey (West Coast Region) and Rewarewa Honey (Waikato Region). There was also a honey peanut butter there that was pretty good. Also there were some bees on display that were working in a hive. It was really cool to see. Along the way we also stopped at a rest spot that had a view of giant Waterfall -- Waipunga falls. It was beautiful, and just incredible that it was just at a rest
Devil's Ink Pots
A series of mud pools whose water levels fluctuate with the amount of rainfall. The color is due to small amounts of graphite and crude oil brought to the surface by the water forcing its way up. stop right off the road.
We tried to stay at this prison that was converted into a hostel, but it was full. It was on top of a hill and really creepy looking. It was said to have a hanging yard, unconsecrated graves, and you stay in the cells. I think Adam was bummed that it was full, but I was secretly relieved. Instead, we stayed at a campsite that's right by the ocean. It's really beautiful from our site. Our back window looks right at the ocean, and you can hear it from inside the van. At night the stars were out and it was really beautiful to look at.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.038s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 9; qc: 29; dbt: 0.0173s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb