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September 13th 2006

Published: September 13th 2006

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Rich Annabet

Steaming

Annabet gets steaming - not the 1st time

We hit the road in our funky van and headed to the Coromandel Penninsular. First night at Hahei beach, whilst cooking in the kitchen while it rained, we met two German gals - Maike & Julia. Little did we know at that stage how much we'd see of them, which has turned out to be much fun.
Next morning we went off to Cathedral cove and then on to a place known as hot water beach - no prizes for guessing why it was named so. Shovel in hand, we went off with our feet as sensors for a possible dig for hot water. A bit of exercise and some gentle testing because some spots were literally boiling and you'd melt in them, but next to them might be a cold spot, so getting the balance turned out to be tricky. We ended up running in to the sea at times to cool down - madness as this is equivalent of mid-january in a UK winter.
On the road again towards Rotorua or RotaVegas as some people call it. Our camp site had boiling mud in the grounds and some hot spa pools that we could also use if we felt

Cathedral

Cathedral cove - clothes on

inclined. The smell of rotten eggs pervaded all around & it took us a couple of days to get used to it.
We walked the Waimangu Volcanic valley (wolcanic walley as Maike pronouces it) which was an odd and totally weird experience with boiling water, steaming orange rocks etc - it felt like a film set for some kind of sci-fi movie. For some people though, this is their 'normal frame of reference' to grow up with. In the evening we ventured to the Polynesian spa for a good basting in the variable temperature pools from 37 degrees to 42 degrees overlooking Lake Rotarua - even though it was dark and all we could see were the stars and the gulls that flew in and out of the security lights - an eerie experience & lovely, except for the eggy smell that left Annabet feeling a bit uncle dick.
On again towards Lake Taupo and then on towards the Tongariro Crossing and Mount Ruapehu. To our dismay the information centre told us that the weather was too dangerous and if we had stayed around for another four days we might be able to go with an alpine quide who would

Steaming rest

clothes on for the valley

cost a few days budget each to employ! We decided to go up the mountain as far as we could and were greeted by a delightful sight of snow and children making snowmen on a golf course that hadn't been white for about 10 years or so. This is where the warm clothes came in to their own - off in to the wilderness and fresh snow we went. It was a real delight to stamp through the snow for a few hours and meet a couple of Americans who had also been determined to take their snowboards up to see if they could find a slope as the mountain was closed. We stayed two more days and our friends came to meet us. The next morning we were treated to glorious sunshine and the news that the mountain would be open for some skiing - how could we resist half a day. Everyone was raving about the volume of fresh snow & good conditions. Had a great time, but richard had only had one week of skiing before - so his kamikaze style was quite entertaining on the slopes.
We headed south to Wellington through wonderful countryside and took

Valley walk

Waiting for the bus at the end of the valley

in some culture at the Te Papa national museum & then celebrated arriving with a few beers. The dark beers being a particular joy.
We crossed east west from the north to the south island with our friends in the beautiful sunny but cold cook straight as we viewed the southern alps. Then a quick drive to land on the doorstep of Pete Kyra & the Tamiriki's Callum & Rosa for a lovely weekend of markets, kids football, all blacks rugby against Australia, chillin with good food & some drink too - not to forget the jigsaw challenge that Annabet thoroughly enjoyed. Big thanks to Wilkie's for having us - we'll be back...
Next installment - the south island dash and back up to Aukland for today's flight !

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