First, you will all want to know how G made out last night fishing. He had a great time fishing just didn't do a lot of catching. He went out again this morning before we left but still nothing more than the two first rainbows he caught yesterday afternoon. It is still something to say that he caught a rainbow in New Zealand. We took the thermal highway north towards our destination of Tokoroa. Our first stop was at the Craters of the Moon thermal walk. The walk takes about 1 hour and you see lots of billowing steam and bubbling mud coming out from the ground. After we left there, we noticed that this steam was coming out of everywhere. In the middle of cow fields and on the side of the road. It was wild. Next, we visited Huka Falls. The blue waters of the Waikato River rush at almost 250,000 litres a second through a sudden chasm and leap over an 11m ledge to foam in a deep semicircular basin. A very powerful effect. Which is why we stopped to take a look at the Geothermal Power Plant.
Again, the North Island surprised us with its beauty and the variety of greens and blues were amazing. The next stop was at the Waimangu Volcanic Valley. This was a 2 hour hike down to Frying Pan Lake and around some old geysers. This is the youngest geothermal volcanic eruption on earth. They can date the actual event - June 10, 1886. Up until this time, they have no documentation of when these occurrences happened. At the end of the hike, the bus comes down to the bottom of the lake and takes you back up, mercifully. We had hoped to get to Rotoroa today as well, but it was getting late and the weather turned to rain, so we decided to head for our lodgings for the night in Tokoroa.
Gerry and Maria greeted us at the door. We sat around and chatted. They are very interesting to talk to. Maria invited us for supper of Thai fish soup, which was very good. After dinner, G & I drove into town to look at the talking poles project. There are about 34 poles and sculptures around town that tell a visual story. We will go to Rotoroa tomorrow on the way to the Bay of Plenty coast.
March 10: The way to Waihi
Finally made it to Te Puia, the museum cultural center of the Maori people. Here we learned more of the history of the native people of NZ. We also experienced a geyser erupting, and getting a glimpse of the kiwi bird. Since the kiwi are nocturnal, the exhibit is in a very dark environment with no photos allowed. So you will have to suffice with the phony pix. We enjoyed the wood carving school along with the weaving demonstrations. We opted for the cultural performance, which we probably could have done without except for the Haka, a traditional challenge demonstration. Before going to Waihi, we decided to go straight out to the coast to Maketu in the Bay of Plenty. Driving out to the beach, we noticed all these enormous hedges and strange canopied vineyard/orchards growing within the hedge frame. Finally, we came upon the Kiwi Fruit sign. We obviously were in the heart of kiwi country, literally. It had been a while since we had seen the ocean and it felt good to just sit and relax and listen to the surf. A time out for a coffee and back on the road. We got a bit turned around when we wanted to see Mt. Maunganui and wound up in the middle of this very busy town. We quickly said let's get out of here and headed straight for Waihi. Met our new hosts, Jossie and Merv. Jossie helped us get a reservation for tomorrow night higher up on the Coromandel Peninsula. Threw some clothes into the washer before heading to town for a dinner at the Kava Cafe for a great meal of fish and chips.
Next time... Coromandel Peninsula
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