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Published: April 16th 2009
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New Zealand is blessed with such a variety of landscapes, it really is true that you can experience pretty much any type of terrain the world has to offer on these two small islands. Last week we were on the south island freezing our bits off in the southern Alps and utilizing every item of clothing we own and then this week we're in the north island where we have been stripping down to our shorts and swimming in rivers; admitedly the part of the river that we were smimming in was at the mouth of a thermal spring but the fact remains - New Zealand has a lot to offer.
As Helen has said we are currently doing a whistle stop tour of the north Island and are trying to fit in as much as possible. After a brief night spent in windy Wellington we set off northwards to lake Taupo, New Zealand's biggest lake. Taupo has alot on offer from calm lake cruises to the ever present extreme sports, skydiving, white water sports and the obvious bungy, we decided to go for none of the above and take the free option instead. This option took us to Huka
falls where a section of the Wairakei river cascades at an impresive rate through a narrow gorge and creates a very spectacular waterfall. Further down river and away from the rough white waters of the fall is a small bow in the river where thermal spa waters flow into the Wairakei. As you can see from the pictures we took full advantage and jumped straight in. At first the temperature of the spa water was too much and we had to straddle the point where the hot water flowed into the cold of the river. It was strange having cold feet while our heads and bodies were turning red in the heat. The only way I can describe it is like when you are sat in a bath and its too hot so you have to add cold water and the cold trickles from the tap onto your toes. But like a bath you eventuallty get used to the temperature and so it didn't take us too long before we built up the courage and dipped our heads under the waterfall of the thermal spring. As free showers go I have to say I was very impressed, the pressure and
temperature was actually better than any of the hostels showers we have used in the past few weeks. The only down side was that the sulphur made it smell a bit 'eggy' but we got used to it.
The following day we set off early to a place called 'crators of the moon' which aren't actually moon crators (believe it or not) but actually a series of hot springs that look like crators with steam bellowing from them. It was only $6 entry and in my opinion money well spent, the path along the crators took about an hour or so to walk around and took us through some fantastic scenery. New Zealand's north island is volcanic in nature and as such there are many places like this. Subsequently its hardly the kind of place where urban planners can find much work and as a result the landscape is pretty much untouched and full of native plants that love the thermal conditions. Ferns, moss and algae all thrive and make the place seem prehistoric especially combined with the bubbling mud pools which for me conjoured up images of the primordial soup and so it was no suprise when I
found out that this area had been used as a filming location for the tv series 'walking with Dinasours'. Along the path we also encountered a Tui, we could only hear it at first; its song sounded like a mixture between R2D2's beeps and whirls and the squeeks and clicks that the frilled dinosaur in the first Jurrasic park film made. Naturally this only added to the prehistoric feeling of the area however the mystery was soon revealed when the small black bird popped his head out of the bush but it was still fun trying to imagine what could make such interesting and beautiful sounds while we could. It was also quite novel to see the bird in the flesh instead of on a beer can or billboard. ('Tui' is a very popular beer in NZ)
Our next destination was Orakei Korako (great name I know) which like the crators of the moon is another thermal area but one that also boasts geysers, caves and cascading silica formations. This place really felt like the land before time. Unfortunatley for us the geysers were'nt performing today but watching the steaming water flow down the hill side was still a
pretty cool sight. As the water bubbles up it brings with it various chemicals and minerals that remain on the surface as sediment in an array of shapes and colours. In one area the water has been seeping over a ledge, perhaps a metre high, and has created a silica formation that could easily be mistaken for a blanket of snow. Further along the track was a cave that was also created by the geothermal activity which is aparently quite rare; a track led us down to its mouth which was at least fifty metres or so below ground. It was reasonably well lit and so it was easy enough to see the jade pool at the bottom, a sign read that all wishes would be granted. All we had to do was place our left hands in the pool and at the same time make our wish. What we wished for? Well, that would be telling now wouldn't it!
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