Saturday 15^th November

We sat down to breakfast this morning and discovered the couple next to us were people we had had breakfast with two days ago at Hahei – it’s a small world!

As it was cold and rainy we decided to do a two hour drive across the country to the glow worm caves at Waitomo. The scenery was lovely despite the drifting mist and rain and the cave was well worth a visit.

The actual cave was discreetly lit and had some great examples of stalagmites and stalactites and a magnificent cavern as well as several passageways. We then boarded a small boat and drifted in silence beneath a cave ceiling studded with thousand of glittering glow worms – a truly amazing sight. Unfortunately one is not allowed to take a camera into the cave so I will just have to try and remember it!

We then had another two plus hours driving across to and down one side of Lake Taupo and we actually had a few moments of sunshine. We arrived at our B & B which has self catering facilities so we visited the local store and bought some food for the next two nights. I also did a load of washing which was very useful.

Friday 14^th November

Today we had a good breakfast at 8am and hit the road to visit the thermal area known as Wai-o-Tapu. We arrived with time to spare as the ‘Lady Knox’ geyser spews forth at 10.15am each morning. We wondered how they could be so precise as to time but the answer was that they pour in some surfactant (natural chemicals, of course!) which causes an eruption some minutes later. It was quite spectacular, all the same!

We then walked around the thermal park on boardwalks and set paths around fumaroles, collapsed craters, bubbling mud pools and a cave with sulphurous deposits, which took about ninety minutes. It was quite good but rather crowded and the smell wasn’t as bad as I was expecting.

We then had a small pie and cups of tea in the café before driving some way through beautiful countryside to a lake where we took a short ferry ride over to the ‘Hidden Valley’ or ‘Orakei Korako’ which is another wonderful thermally active area and reputedly one of the best and most picturesque geothermal area in New Zealand. The silica terraces and flows were spectacular as was the geothermal cave, boiling pools and mud pools.

We then drove back to our accommodation via the town centre so that we know where to go and eat tonight – an Indian for a change. 

Thursday 13^th November

We drove partway down the coast to Waihi and then cut across inland through forested hills and lush, rolling meadows. We stopped to take a look at the gold mine in Waihi which was quite amazing and has been reclaiming gold from the quartz rock since the 1800s.

The sat nav took us down Te Aroha Old Rd rather than the highway which had much less traffic and was very pretty so we decided to follow it! We arrived at Kouri Lodge where we stay for two nights – in a beautiful location right on the banks of Lake Rotorua. It was quite cold and rainy all day so a good day for driving rather than walking!

In the evening we went on the obligatory tourist cultural experience – which was actually not bad. Poor Iain was forced into being the ‘Chief’ for our coach which he didn’t enjoy much as he had (with the other three Chiefs) to perform Hongi (touching noses in greeting) and dance the ‘Haka’ (a display war dance) at the end of the evening.

The ‘Hangi’ or food cooked in a fire pit was good, however, as was the cultural singing and dance performance. We were also taken around in small groups and introduced to some of the activities that the Maoris used to perform, such as martial arts, face tattooing, stick games and weaving.