Rotorua to Whangamata

Jan 7th (Sat) 2012

We left the Bay View Resort in Taupo at 9am. We drove to Wai -o-Tapu where we'd been told there was a geyser that 'blew' at 10.15am every morning. This troubled me as I couldn't understand how that could happen if there was no connection with the solar system. I felt that 'the hand of man' had to be involved in some way. Anyway, all was revealed when the crowd was assembled in a semicircular 'arena' around the geyser. This guy came along & told us that in 1905 there was an open prison in this area and prisoners were set to work building roads. Understandably, they & their clothes got rather dirty & they used to wash their clothes in the hot pools. One day one of the prisoners dropped his soap into the spring& lo & behold much to his surprised the geyser blew! Seemingly, in the earth under the opening is a layer of cold water laying on top of a layer of hot water (how come these don't mix by means of a convection current being set up???). In order for the geyser to blow these two layers have to mix which they do but at unpredicably irregular time intervals. So he artificially set it off by dropping some surfactant in to cause the 2 layers of water to mix. So 'hey presto' it started bubbling & eventually shot up into the air up to a height of about 20-30m.

Unknown to us we had to buy a ticket to see the whole 'Thermal Wonderland' so we decided we'd get our money's worth & 'do' the whole park. Had we known we didn't really need to go & see the Orakei Korako yesterday. This was better in some ways though. There were huge craters, for example, caused by collapses of rock caverns brought about by erosion from the acidic steam. This showed how unstable these areas are. One had boiling mud at the bottom. In another starlings, swallows and mynahs were nesting - the heat from below incubating the eggs. Another called 'The Devil's bath' was full of lime green liquid which had overflowed from a pool & mixed with sulphur & ferrous (iron' salts. The pool was called 'The Champagne Pool' & is the largest spring in the district being 65m diam & 62m deep (temp 74 degrees C). It's surface bubbles as carbon dioxide is released. This was formed by a massive eruption 700 years ago & the rocks thrown out can be seen as a layer on the banks behind the pool. Interestingly, this rock lies on top of well defined darker layer formed by the MASSIVE eruption that formed the caldero of Lake Taupo in 186AD (referred to yesterday).

Again, there were extensive silica terraces, tinged with pigments from various minerals & salts such as sulphur, iron, carbon, antimony, arsenic & manganese.

There was a cave here too ( confusingly, 'cos yesterday's was supposed to be the only one in NZ). Here the sublimation of sulphur was well illustrated for chemists amongst us! The hot sulphur had vapourised & then as it cooled had formed crystals on the roof of the cave.

We had our lunch on some picnic tables - -laced with sulphur fumes. We then drove a short way to a lake of boiling, bubbling mud. This was again quite amazing with mud being thrown up several feet in the air.

Overall a once in a lifetime experience!

We arrived at our hotel in Rotorua around 2pm & have been chilling as it's now raining! We had to do our washing though as I felt we stank of hydrogen sulphide! The sulphurous smell still hangs in the air all round here. We're a bit upset as there are bad weather warnings for heavy rain and strong winds for this area tomorrow. But perhaps a rest wouldn't do us any harm!!

We are about to order a room service dinner now!

Jan 8th (Sun) 2012

I think overall we have not been lucky with the weather. We woke up to rain and it's not stopped all day! However, 'stiff upper lip' & let's get out and make the most of it anyway & we ended up having a great day!!

We went to Rotorua Museum this morning after a nice slow, relaxing start with the 'Do Not Disturb' sign on the door! The building itself is really stunning, colonial style with some interesting towers on the roof. It was opened in 1908 as the 'Baths' to take the acid waters from the Priest spring and the alkaline waters from the Rachel spring. People from all over the world went there to 'Take the Cure'. However, the whole project floundered because of unforseen maintenance problems & costs including the lead paint turnung black by combining with the hydrogen sulphide producing black lead sulphide, the acidic water corroded the pipe work, the steam softened the ceiling plaster causing it to fall down etc, etc, etc. Much of the exhibits are put over to this history & some of the baths are still in place. There is also a very interesting section on Maori history & culture. The fire alarm went off while we were there so we ran for shelter in the car as the rain was torrential. Two fire engines rolled up & within a few minutes we were allowed in again. I expect some chancer tried to have a quick fag in the toilets rather than face the rain outside! We didn't manage to see it all so they gave us a return tcket so we might pop in tomorrow morning for an hour before we head off for Whangamata. This is only 200k away so that's not too far. This is on the 'Bay of Plenty' where there was a ship wreck(MV Rena) on the reef which caused an oil spill a couple of months ago. On the news today they reckon that with the bad weather the wreck may have broken up further.

Tonight we were out at a Maori cultural experience. We were picked up from the hotel in one of the coaches that belong to the company & driven by a member of the family/ tribe. This guy was so charismatic & worked v hard to get us all 'in the mood' during our transfer to the Maori village. The greeting for 'Hello' in Maori is 'Kia ora' & this guy knew it in 60 odd languages including Welsh!! It was quite amazing. He also knew patriotic songs & national anthems like Land of my Fathers, Flower of Scotland etc etc. He was hilarious in that he tooted at random people in the street like Sikhs & waved & said 'My cousin' - -v funny at the time. On the way back he went round a roundabout about 5 times while we all sang 'The wheels on the bus went round and round' etc! The whole experience at the village was excellent. We shared in the 'Powhiri' the ancient Maori ceremony of welcome before we entered the Pre European Maori Village nestled in the native Tawa forest. We were shown how food was cooked in a 'hangi' - an earth oven. We learnt how to do the Haka We watched stick games - part of the training for Maori warriors. We learnt about their weapons & how they were used- -pretty gory! We watched a demo of the Haka - - those protruding eyes and long waggling tongues are so intimidating. They then entertained us with traditional music and song. After that we enjoyed a 'Hangi' feast which was deliciuos accompanied by a bottle of 'Fat Bird' Pinot Noir. The evening ended with some more Maori songs & then the crazy journey home!! One the highlights of our trip undoubtedly!!

Jan 9th (Mon) 2012 Rotorua

Had a really bad night. saw 4am & then slept til 6.40am. Obviously overstimulated by Maori evening. Looked out & it's still pouring. Went to museum & finished off what we hadn't managed to see yesterday. Had a lovely hot scone & coffee & got on our way. So glad to leave that strong eggy smell behind- -both of us felt nauseous.

Just before we reached Tauranga we stopped at Mount Maunganui an extinct volcano that used to be an island. The beach is wonderful but not suitable for swimming 'cos of rip currents. Lots of pretty good surfers tho'. There were some large pieces of wood getting washed ashore from the MV Rena that grounded itself on the Astrolabe reef in Oct 2010. Warnings on the beach that oil may still surface & to be aware of debris. In the newspaper mentions that 5 oiled penguins have been found. So sad.

We then headed north to Whangamata. Lovely 'studio' with kitchen, microwave & spacious bedsitting room. Best of all we have an outside space - -v private with a HOT TUB!!!!!!! Looking forward to a soak with a glass of wine tomo!! I might let Pete in as well!!

We went to do some food shopping & I cooked some pasta. Ate on our patio. Yum - -good to have some home cooked food! Enough left for tomo too! Had a look at the beach. Idyllic. Also lovely marina with loads of boats. Fingers crossed it's good weather tomorrow. Hope to chill on the beach.

Jan 10th (Tues) 2012 Whangamata

Woke up & looked out of the patio door & surprise, surprise it was pouring. Anyway, by the time we'd abluted & breakfasted it had stopped although the sky looked threatening in parts. Undeterred we headed off for the beach. Lovely golden sands here & quite big waves & lots of surfers. Two rocky islands near the shore covered in 'bush'. We had a lovely walk & at the 'turn around point we sat & watched some wee tots getting surf life-saving training from the lifeguard/surf rescue team. They were very enthusiastic & confident despite getting knocked over by the waves quite frequently!!They all had little 'skull caps' with their names on! Cute! We had a look around the area before heading back for lunch - -bacon butties on the patio - Yum!!

After lunch back to the beach to sit & watch the surfers and read our books. Headed back about 5pm & Pete filled the hot tub - - there was so much foam!!!!!!!!!! We sat in total luxury with our glasses of wine/beer!! Then dinner on the patio amongst the plants. Lovely here but sadly we have to move on tomorrow!

Jan 11th (Wed) 2012 Pahaia