Something smells off

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Our spirits are high as we enter our last week here in New Zealand. We have thoroughly enjoyed our time here but are looking forward to moving on to another destination and meeting Duncan (Sandra’s brother) in Hawaii (some interesting points on this later). The next stop on our magical mystery tour of NZ was Rotorua. Aahh lovely Rotorua, a rose by any other name would not smell as sweet, but I am getting ahead of myself.

The trip from Napier to Rotorua isn’t the longest so we took a leisurely drive and tried to take in the scenery. The first significant sight we came to was Lake Taupo. This is the largest lake in NZ and has what looks like a quaint little town called Taupo (very imaginative I know) at its southern end. The weather was a bit drab when we got there and a breeze had picked up so the lake didn’t look the greatest so it was a fleeting stop before we headed on to the next sight of significant interest which was the Huka Falls. These falls were pretty spectacular. They may not be the biggest or widest falls in the world (only about 9m high in fact) but the sheer volume of water flowing over them was immense. From what we could see there is a narrow chasm between 2 lakes and the water hurls itself through this gap with incredible force and fury. The information boards by the falls tell you that enough water goes over the falls every minute to fill 5 Olympic swimming pools. All this from falls that could hardly be more that 10m wide.

We then followed the Thermal Highway (that is really what it is called) up to Rotorua. This area is one where a lot of geothermal activity bubbles up to the surface of the earth resulting in boiling mud, steaming pools and sporadic geysers being dotted all over the place. Rotorua itself sits at the southern end of Lake Rotorua (again a very imaginative name I know - I don’t make this stuff up, I just report the facts, just the facts) and is towered over by a Redwoods forest. We arrived at our campsite shortly after lunchtime and were immediately struck by the amazing and all encompassing stench. This place stinks like you cannot believe. One of the added benefits of all the incredible geothermal activity is that a lot of gases get released into the air. Some of these gases have a wonderfully robust aroma. There are too many gases to name here but if sulphur was the only one it wouldn’t have been to bad. I cannot express how rich and wonderfully noxious these aromas were. If you could bottle it you would make a fortune. Forget about your Chanel or Old Spice, try some Rotorua Stink, guaranteed to make everyone else smell better than you. We took a stroll through town and at times we forgot all about the smell and then would turn a corner into the wind and would almost double over in revulsion. The town itself looks very nice with ample open space and very clean (as all places we have been to in NZ have been). We stopped in at one of the departments store so that I could borrow a scale to see how my diet and exercise regime are going and I am pleased to say that I have lost just over 10kg (22lbs) in 2 months so far and I am now at 96kg - only another 11kg to go in the next 2 months.

A little bit out of town is the Redwood Forest. We took a drive there and then took a pleasurable walk through the forests. The redwoods here are about 60m tall (half that of the Californian Redwoods) and look massive as they tower above you. From there we headed out of town a bit to Blue Lake. When we arrived we were surprised to see a mass of people and cars surrounding the lake, being the curious sorts we ventured forth and discovered that they were having water skiing races. We watched for a while whilst grown men tied themselves to the back of speedboats and proceeded to let the driver go at full speed around the lake. It was all very unusual but quite amusing. Unfortunately no-one fell whilst we were watching or videoing. When we got back to the campsite we decided to take a walk to the bubbling mud. If ever there was a bad idea, this was definitely it. To be fair the mud was bubbling away quite happily with little jets of steam appearing now and then (Life lesson #3 - Do not touch boiling mud. Even though it is mud, it is still boiling and will still burn you). Being this close to the bubbling mud also meant we were extremely close to the source of the smell. If you could imagine the worst rotten eggs in the world, heat them up, add some rotten fish and then stuff it up your delicate nasal passages, that is what it felt like. I thought I was going to be sick. We beat a hasty retreat and had a restless night’s sleep as the smells wafted in with each breath of wind.

The next day we decided to head for the epicentre of the geothermal activity, Wai-o-tapu Thermal Wonderland. We had to get there relatively early as they have a geyser that goes off at 10:15am each day. They also have numerous thermal pools, pits and caves. We arrived early as intended and had enough time to walk around a small section of the park before we had to head off to the geyser for the eruption. Even the short walk we took around the park gave us a clear indication that this was going to be a good, but stinky day. We headed over to the Lady Knox geyser, found good viewing spots and waited with the throngs of tourist in nervous anticipation for the 10:15 eruption. Did you ever wonder how or why a geyser would erupt at the same time each day and only once a day, I did and now I know. I knew it couldn’t be due to the sun as it wouldn’t be the same everyday of the year, I also thought it peculiar how a geyser would keep to a 24hr clock. As I was pondering these mysteries of the universe a park official began telling us about the history of the geyser, how it formed, where its name came from blah blah blah. Then all of a sudden it appeared as though, no, surely not, he wouldn’t be doing that, yes he is - the park official drops a bar of soap down the spout and 2 minutes later, hey presto, the geyser erupts at 10:15. That is how this geyser erupts at the same time every day. I will be honest I felt a bit cheated but it did give me a wonderful idea. When we get home, I am sticking a massive hosepipe up the chimney and charging money for people to see the Paterson geyser erupt every hour on the hour, unless there is a great demand then it can erupt every 15 minutes. I certainly hope that when we get to Yellowstone to see Old Faithful that a park ranger doesn’t drop chemicals down it to set it off.

After watching this scam we let the crowds disperse and then walked around the rest of the park. The park has a walkway which winds itself around about 25 thermal sights like boiling pools, sulphur caves and bubbling mud. All these sights have been given names such as “The Devils Pool” or “The Devils Inkpots”. These are very unimaginative names and I propose that they should rename them after the smells that they give off. I believe children would find this much more exciting. You could have “The Decaying Fish Guts Pool” or “Toasted Farts Well”, at least then you would know what you were in for. All kidding aside, some of the sights were amazing. One called the “Champagne Pool” had a almost white crust around it, a vibrant orange ledge and then a deep green/blue coloured water with steam rising off it. It was very impressive and we were glad we went. With our time in Rotorua drawing to a close we spent a bit of time lying down by the lake, in the sun, reading and relaxing. As I look back I hope my lasting memory of Rotorua will be the magnificent champagne pool, unfortunately I fear it will be the smell that I will ultimately associate with the town.

As I said at the beginning in about a week we will be in Hawaii. We are really looking forward to this, partly because it means we will be out of our tent and in a bed for a while but more because Duncan will be joining us in Hawaii through to the Grand Canyon. I thought it may interest you to know that Duncan will be leaving South Africa for Hawaii on Thursday afternoon and will get to Hawaii by Friday evening. We leave New Zealand on Saturday morning (2 days after Duncan leaves SA) but get to Hawaii 1hr before he arrives on Friday night - go figure that one out.

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Photos

Huka Falls
Looks more impressive in person

Comments

[Marilie]

Hey, sorry you were so dissappointed with Rutarua...it was my favorite!!!! A Shame you missed the fantastic Huangi....touristy, dinner in a traditional Maori Village. it give you a great idea of the tradition and the food is cooked in the traditional manor in a pit under the earth....absolutely extraordainery. The best dinner I have ever had!!!! Luckily we were treated to a real erution of the geyser. we had to wait a bit but it was absolutely amazing. I learned about it in geograpy at school, and was always so fassinated with the whole thing....what an opportunity to witness it for myself!!! Enjoy Hawaii!!!! Looking forward to the pictures!!! M