Day 184 New Zealand, Taupo to Rotorua, Hells gates.

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Hello everyone,



We had a lie in this morning, and luckily the temperature was fairly warm in the camper this morning, so I even made it out of bed first to put the kettle on the stove.



After getting fuel in town we drove 15 minutes north to the Huka Falls just outside Taupo. These falls are where NZ’s longest river, the Waikato, pushes through a narrow chasm causing a dramatic 9m-drop into the rushing currents. We took some photos from the footbridge then drove along the 5 all the way up to Rotorua.



We drove 20 minutes northeast to got to Hells Gate, an impressive geothermal reserve. The English name originates from the 1934 visit by George Bernard Shaw. The 10 hectares reserve allows for a 2.5km walk around all the incredible geothermal activity happening in the area, including mud volcanoes, a hot thermal waterfall, 105+ bubbling mud lakes and sulphur lakes. We got to make our own Maori woodcarvings too.



After that hour of walking round, we took to the somewhat cooler mud pools and sulphur pools for an hour. It was heaven, especially after the Tongariro crossing two days ago-our legs were still aching a bit.



All this came at quite a cost of $90 each though, which too be honest was expensive for what we got but it was so nice to relax after what we had been up the last few days!!!



We headed back into town and got some power and Wi-Fi in the local library, wrote out a few blogs and managed to upload a load of photos as well!! (This is the hardest part of the blog!!) Neil walked to the shop to get supplies for dinner once back we headed out to find a place to camp up.



It seems Rotorua does not seem to like freedom camping as the only places in town and close are all chargeable ones so we decided we would head out on the 5 highway and stay in between Rotorua and Tauranga in a free site called TANC site which is a station for walks and rafting and has free self contained camping…woo hoo!!!



Neil cooked me my favorite dinner of mash beans and crispy bacon, the mash had cheese and leeks in…it was amazing!!! We washed it down with a beer and then settled down to finish the film from the night before and have a read,



That’s all!!



Love V&Nxxx

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