It was hot last night! I had my obligatory ice cream after a lovely take away Thai dinner. I don’t think they have hot (hot for NZ anyway > 25 – 30 degrees) days very often because there isn’t much ventilation in the rooms. I didn’t sleep too well and just as I was dozing off again at 3.30am, the town siren went off! Probably a car crash. This morning I asked our host about the tractors and the riding in the back of boats. He said that riding in the boats was illegal but it was and feature of a sea-side town where police turned a blind eye. The same was true for unregistered tractors. Most didn’t want to own a 4WD for the occasions they visited their bach.
The drive was reasonably easy today – quicker than we expected. It was quite windy (not the atmospheric type of windy - the topographical type) and very picturesque. Nice shot Mandy - through the windscreen.
We arrived in Rotorua after having lunch on the way and joined the hoards at the Thermal Park in the middle of town. Fascinating place.
This is the main Guyser but it didn't reach more than about 5 metres while we were watching.
Generally the smell was pretty bad here - smells like a science lab.
The so called "Cooking Pool". Looks just like a spa only hotter! I think they use it for cooking demo's.
South of Rotorua. This is a free to see mud pool and it was far more impressive than the one we paid $86NZD to see. Again nice shot Mandy as she captured the mud popping about 1m into the air.
A short drive onto Taupo and found our very nice cabin – much cheaper than a motel and it’s nice to be in a caravan park again!
The lake is enormous and the water is exceptionally clear. I can see why people want to stay here. The town is quite big and as we were too late to bother cooking for ourselves, we had noodles for dinner - very nice.
Tomorrow we will check out the northern end of the lake and in particular, the Huka Falls and the Aratiatia rapids. On Thursday we'll head out for Waitarere (Rob's bach location) checking out the south end of the lake and meeting up with Rob et al for lunch in Taihape.
I hope for a better sleep tonight.
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