It rained all night and it was still raining this morning but on the positive side we didn't have to pack up wet tents like some people on the site. We went and did some geocaches along the beach. The area has black pebbly beaches which aren't the most attractive and they may have looked better with blue skies.
On the way to Taupo the temperature problem in the camper van reoccurred and even though Graham topped the radiator up with water it didn't seem happy so we thought it needed checking out in case we broke down in some remote spot. We arrived in Taupo to find the weather improving, was that the sun? Anyway we made a visit to a garage and there was another torrential downpour. The man couldn't find any leaks in the water system so we went into Taupo for some shopping. As we left the garage there was a park with steam coming out behind some vegetation, so we wondered over to find this steaming crater. We were pretty amazed that this volcanic activity was just happening in an ordinary park and near houses. The weather was getting better, sunny intervals and downpours instead of heavy continuous rain.
We found a nice shop that sold walking sandals and the lady was very helpful, she also was an expatriate that now spends her time doing triathlons. She found me a lovely pink pair of children's sandals at half the price of adults, what a bargain! They are so lovely I might have to show you a picture. Poor old worn out Teva sandals got dumped in a bin on the front at Lake Taupo, RIP I will miss you.
So refuelled with lunch and new footwear we went to see the Hukka Falls. Apparently they are the most visited NZ tourist site, they were pretty amazing, another heavy shower quickly dispersed all the Chinese and we had the place to ourselves.
We then went on to"Craters of the Moon". This was a walk through a large volcanic area with steaming craters and bubbling hot mud pools. It was very spectacular and apparently there is always more steam after heavy rain so there was a positive to all this rain.
We walked to some hot spa pools which are fed by a hot river, Graham wanted to take a dip but the youth had taken over the pools so he thought he might look a bit out of place. We had a quick look at the bungy jump over the river, it was pretty high, unfortunately they had finished for the day, so I missed my chance. There is a major cycling event this weekend with10,000 cyclists in Taupo so we were a bit worried about camping sites being full, but there wasn't a problem. In fact compared to the South Island there seems to be a lot fewer camper vans on the road perhaps they saw the weather forecast and went home!