Weather for Thermals

Trip Start Aug 01, 2008
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Trip End Dec 20, 2008


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Where I stayed
Silver Birch Holiday Park
(Tauranga hotels)

Flag of New Zealand  , North Island,
Thursday, October 30, 2008

Thursday 30 October

Tauranga                            S 37° 42.9'           E 176° 09.8'

Set off early from Taupo and headed for the thermal area, on a clear but cool day with breeze. I mainly visited the Wai-O-Tapu area, which has more large flat thermal phenomena than the Waimangu valley but is a bit les scenic. Apart, that is, from the Lady Knox geyser, which is triggered every day at 10:15 (by the insertion of 300gm soap which changes the surface tension of the upper cooler chamber, allowing the lower hotter one to blow). Spectacular, and lasts long enough for everyone to photograph.

Then I by-passed Rotorua and visited various lakes, including a scenic lunch spot at Lake Okareka. I also visited Maketu, the landing site of one of the great canoes of the Maori immigration in the 1300s AD.

I missed visiting Tauranga from the sea, but the map makes it look very interesting, as it is sited on a number of peninsulas and isthmuses with sea and lakes all round. My camp spot looks directly onto the water of an estuary, about 20m away.
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