Journey South

  Taupo, New Zealand
Monday, October 15, 2007

So, our time on the farm with Sabine and Wolf had come to an end, and we packed up the van and headed south.  10 days later we need to be in Wellington, but aside from a few plans, we werent too sure where we were off to.  Monday we made it from Kaiwaka to Waitomo to visit our friend Dave, who we met in Samoa. It was a lot of driving, and getting prepared for the rest of the trip.  Dave recieved us well, and we spent the night looking through his old photos of SE Asia, and Australia.  He offered to take us along on a rafting cave trip on Thursday, but unforturnately we were planning to be at least a little further south by then, and we weren't sure what to do in between.  In the morning we headed to the Glowworm cave, to do the tourist thing.  $35 each later we were touring a limestone cave with a tiled floor, and lighting.  Some really gorgeous formations though.  Tons of stalactites and stalagmites and some impressive columns. Including something they called the organ which was this collection of columns which have all grown togther to form this impressive "organ".  The highlight of the trip being a short boat ride through the dark part of a large cave which was covered in glowworms.  They are basically a larvae of a fly that uses a light to attract their prey.  But thousands of them on the ceiling of a cave, resembling a starry night, was absolutly amazing.

Afterwards we spent the day heading to the coast stopping for a few pretty hikes through the area which was rittled with limestone, caves, natural bridges, and tunnels.

Waitomo Limestone

By the aftenoon we made it to Kawhia on the coast to grab some excellent fish and chips (served in newspaper!) before trying our luck to find some of the thermal water which apparantly bubbles up on the beach.  Though the tide was too high and we didn't find any hot water, the beach was gorgeous and we had a great walk, and I swear we found some warm spots.

Kawhia Beach

We then headed straight for Rotorua, the thermal center of New Zealand, and known alternativly as RottenRua, for the smell, and Roto Vegas, for the tourism buildup.  Well, the smell was a for sure turn off, and the "strip" was not exactly reminiscent of Vegas, but detestable just the same.  We ended up getting out and heading south right away to the Waitiki valley, and camped at a spot which had it's own thermal pools.  A quick dinner and we were warming ourselves in the natural hottub until the rain started coming down.

Straight away in the morning we had a dip until we couldn't take it anymore, the pools were much warmer in the morning.  After breakfast we headed to the Waiopo Thermal Wonderland just out of the valley on the other side of the road.

Waiopo Thermal Wonderland

Mud Pools

This place STUNK.  Although it was quite beautiful.  We had a great walk around admiring all the craters, and pools created by the thermal activity and sulfuric acid eating away at the landscape.

The Devils Bath

The edge

A short drive south was Lake Taupo, and we had a walk around the river, and the town.

The Wairiki River

Collected some info, grocery shopping, and now we are off for the Tongariro Crossing.  Supposedly the best one-day walk in all of the North Island.  It is a World Heritage Site, and Mt. Ruapehu has just erupted a few weeks ago, adding to the excitement.  If you dont hear from is in a while, become concerned.  But give us at least a week, usually it takes a while to get back to a computer.