Firstly today, I realise that there are some followers who are taking the time to leave comments on this blog – thank you. However, I have not yet worked out how to reply to you on a personal basis, so I shall do my best to reply to things within the blog.
Today has been busy since before breakfast, even before showering or even getting out of bed, as we had a skype call with our daughter before we got out of bed this morning – sad or what! After doing the necessaries and packing our bags, we were on our way into central Lake Taupo to complete our photographic tasks, pick up a couple of items from the shops and head off towards Rotorua and the bubbly mud. The sun was trying hard to break through the thick cloud, but it made for easy driving in the subdued light. Within a short time of leaving Taupo, the sun had won over the cloud and it was turning into another great day. It wasn’t long before we had arrived at our first thermal area and were heading for the entrance. We seemed to arrive at the same time as just about every Japanese tourist in New Zealand as well as another 5 coach loads of miscellaneous tourists.
We were just too late to see the Geyser being induced to shoot water high into the air, but never mind, plenty more to see. As expected, the air was thick with the smell of Sulphur Dioxide – rotten eggs smell to the non chemists – as we commenced the walk through the thermal area. Passing craters with hissing, steaming water and black sludge billowing from their bottoms, we were soon into small sulphurous vents spewing fumes from their small gaps and depositing yellow stains around their openings. Before long we were at the Artists Palette, a small, shallow lake with numerous different coloured blotches on the surface, created by different chemicals leaching through the bed of the lake and just sitting on the surface.
Next to that was the Champagne Pool which was a larger lake full with boiling water bubbling away like champagne and spewing pungent steam into the atmosphere. There were more areas of small black pools bubbling away with black sludge called the Devils Inkwells. More pools of gurgling, steamy water and sludge followed before coming to a bright green pool alongside some deep smoking craters just by the exit.
We decided to eat our lunch before finishing off the visit with a trip to the bubbly mud pool about 2km down the road. Personally, I find the bubbly mud fascinating. It’s like watching rough seas crashing against the rocks; you can waste so much time just watching it. By now it wasn’t just the ground that was steaming; the camera was also going quite well.
We had been recommended another thermal area to visit by the biking cafe owner in Taupo and the owner of the Motel we stayed at in Christchurch. It was about 10 Kms towards Rotorua and on our way. We turned off the main road and drove for about 6kms inland, passing some fantastic rolling hills covered in brilliant green grass; they looked almost artificial. We were soon at the entrance to Waimangu Thermal Valley, billed in the Rough Guide to NZ as sharing the tussle for Rotorua’s crown for best thermal area with Wai-o-Tapu, where we had just been. The entrance fee was even more expensive than the previous attraction, but as it had been so highly personally recommended, we thought no more of it. That is until we were about 15 mins into the park and had seen very little sign of thermal activity, compared to the previous park. After 30 mins we were wondering if we were on candid camera, as there was very little thermal activity. I have seen more bubbling water when I pass wind in the bath than in this place. It’s the first time that we felt as though we had been fleeced since arriving in this great country. We walked the full length of the thermal area and to be honest, it was most underwhelming. If any of you are thinking about a visit to NZ, make a note not to visit Wiamangu Thermal Valley for at least another million years, until it matures.
Having walked quite a few Kms today we were shattered by the time we reached Rotorua and we still had to find some accommodation for the evening. We’ve ended up just a bit out of town at one of our usual Top 10 Motel Units on their campsite. So far they have been excellent units, fully equipped with a kitchen and a good selection of cooking utensils.
Whilst we were in Napier, famous for its Art Deco architecture, we saw this advertisement over a beauty parlour. Well we think it was a beauty parlour – could have been a barbers or hairdressers I suppose.
It hardly seems possible that we only have a month left of the holiday. We will be leaving NZ from Auckland on 6th April for Sydney and leaving Australia on 20th heading for Hong Kong, arriving home on 23rd. The first few weeks seemed to go fairly slowly, but the last couple have simply flown by. We try hard not to think about it.
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