Two Years in KiwiLand: Christmas Break (Day 9)

Happy New Year! Dan and I woke up at 6:30 this morning in order to pack up, make breakfast, and get into the town of Whakapapa Village to catch our bus to the start of the Tongariro Crossing at 8:00. As usual, we were a bit late pulling in at 8:05, but luckily the bus was still there. We made it to the start of the 15 - 20 KM track (not sure of the correct distance because every brochure said something different) and set out on our way. The weather forecast said it would be pretty windy but we thought they must have been wrong as everything seemed fine. It was overcast, but that was supposed to clear up in a few hours. We saw a bunch of people turning back who said it was too windy and cloudy up near the top to continue but we wanted to see for ourselves so we carried on up the huge sloping trail (with many 1 minute breaks along the way). Once we got to the top, we could understand where they were coming from. The visibility was only about 10 feet due to the clouds and the wind was blowing at about 80 Km/Hour from what we were told. We probably could have carried on as many other people did, but since we couldn't even see much, we decided to head back. Our bus driver came back (I think he was a bit annoyed but we were only a couple of many people who turned back). He was pretty rude and only would take the people back that he drove up although there were many others that used his company waiting there. Oh well, Dan and I got back OK.

From there, we set off towards Rotorua where we planned to spend the night. Along the way, we made our first stop at the Tokaanu Thermal Pools walk. We were going to go for a dip, but the bathing pools were closed. We were, however, able to still take the walk. It was a short 20 minute track around a geothermal area where we saw lots of hot thermal pools and bubbling mud. We tested the water by dipping our fingers in it and they almost burnt off it was so hot. Pretty cool to see, though.

From there, we made a quick stop at the Huka Falls near Lake Taupo that Dan really wanted to see because approximately 200,000 liters per second flow through. It was a bit of a let-down though as it wasn't so much of a waterfall as it was a very strong river flowing downwards. The water was a pretty blue, though. At least we didn't have to hike to see it.

From there we hurried to the Orakei Korako Thermal Park that we read about in our Lonely Planet travel book. This is a big geothermal area where there are many geysers, a historic cave, hot springs, and boiling mud. It was really pretty with all sorts of mineral deposits, beautiful blue hot springs, and orange thermal algae. We strolled around for about an hour getting a bunch of good pictures. Unfortunately, none of the larger geysers went off while we were there, but we did see a couple smaller ones shooting up water.

Afterwards, we continued on to Rotorua which is a well-known town for all of its geothermal activity. The park - Kuirau - right in the middle of town has a bunch of hot springs and boiling mud with a few thermal pools that we were able to dip our mosquito-bite covered legs in for some relief. The whole town of Rotorua stinks like sulfur from all of the geothermal activity.

We stayed at the Cosy Cottage Holiday Park where we camped again. It was right next to a boiling stream and Lake Rotorua which has hot springs under the sand that you can dig into to make your personal hot tub. We grabbed a bite to eat and a couple of drinks at the Pig & Whistle bar in town which used to be the old police station before calling it a night after an eventful day.