Well, it’s day eight of the trip, and we are in Wellington. We have visited a LOT of the countryside so far. I think we left the blog on Day 6 at Taupo. Day 7 was at New Plymouth and now, as we said, Wellington.
On Day 6 we saw the Orakei Korako thermal pits, which were intriguing. According to the Lonely Planet, after the destruction of the Pink & White Terraces, this is the most interesting thermal field in New Zealand, and possibly the world. We saw all of it, and for $38 (each) we were ferried over across a lake via boat, dropped off and given a map. After an hour and a half walk I’d taken quite a few photos of the thermal fields, and saw a small geyser going off. This was a relief as on the day before at Te Aroha the geyser wasn’t co-operating. There is a spa operated below it which taps into the waters and seems to have zapped the life of the geyser. At least at Orakei the geyser went off, albeit only tamely.
Night 6 saw us staying at Taupo on the northern shores of a massive lake, which was the result of one of the world’s biggest seismic events. The lake just blew up, al la Krakatoa, leaving behind a massive crater which is now filled with water. Taupo is a very commercial area with vast numbers of accommodation facilities and tour operators, such as helicopter rides, para-sailing, bungee jumping and the like. However it is a remarkably beautiful area.
Day 7 saw us do the mountains of Ruapehu. This is the first active volcano I’ve ever seen. It last erupted in September 1995, and the local guides were saying it was probably due to go off again, as it had erupted in 1969, 1975 and 1988. He did resist the urge to look at his watch, but I was almost expecting him to. Apparently in a 1953 eruption, 153 people were killed. We forked out $23 each to go up a long way on two of the chair lifts, which took us a long way up the hill. It was a magic experience, and from the top we could see Mt Taranaki (Mt Egmont) which was 230km away, and where we would be staying that night. A lot of driving saw us land in New Plymouth at the Egmont Eco Lodge, which was fully booked due to the Womad festival being held there for the last three days. Apparently this is a youth Arts festival, but from the looks of those staying in the hostel, the minimum age was 55!
Today we’ve done a lot more driving, all the way around Mt Egmont via the coast and down to Wellington, which is probably about as far south as we’re going to get. We are here for at least two days.
More later. We are not finding it easy to get internet access all the time. New Plymouth’s terminals were down last night. Today, here at Wellington, which is a massive hostel, I actually have the laptop going and have wi-fi access which is pure luxury. We're more than halfway through the holiday now, and am getting used to the hostelling to a certain extent. The worse thing is the packing up and repacking every day. Now we get two days in the one spot! Luxury!!!
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