Zelma’s Trip

We woke up to crazy monsoon-like rain and carried on towards Taupo.  In Taupo itself we went around the town and also a traveling fair.  I mean traveling fair here in the sense of stalls selling various things and not rollercoasters and big wheels.  Although they did have a stand where you could attempt to shoot ridiculously weighted tin cans with a very badly aimed rifle and pony rides.  It was pleasant enough and I bought an awesome gecko ring.

After the fair and the town we carried on to Golden Springs, a very small place where I had found an interesting looking holiday park in the book previously.  The place was pretty cool and we asked at reception if the flying fox would take our weight or whether it was just for children.  When we were told it would we headed down there.  What I failed to do was move my hand at the end and as I got to the end of the zip-line I managed to crush my thumb imbetween two tyres, which was nice.  The park also had natural geothermal springs so we took a dip in one.  It was amazing to be outside in a natural pool in a river which was as hot as a bath!  There was also one pool you could go in which was called the “bubble pool” for obvious reasons, like a kind of natural jacuzzi.  Apparently some pesky kids had destroyed the steps they had made for that one though…..oooh, if it wasn’t for those pesky kids!

In the evening we headed into Rotorua as I had read about a traveling fair being there, this time the rollercoaster and big wheel type.  When we got to the town I almost asked Lance to turn back.  Now I think I have commented on my sensitive sense of smell previously and this place was -not- good for it.  Like much of the surrounding country Rotorua has a high concentration of geothermal activity.  However, unllike much of the surrounding country, it absolutely stank of rotten eggs from the sulphur.  I’m sure a lot of you have smelled Sulphur and think you can imagine it but I can assure you what you are imagining is not nearly as bad as the actual smell.  It was like the worst kind of eggy fart you’ve ever smelled.  Anyway, with me holding my nose we drove to the village green where the fair was meant to be. Although the fair was evident it had shut prematurely so we headed back to the holiday camp.

The next day we headed to Huka falls which initially didn’t look all that impressive.  However as you turned the corner you saw the sheer volume of water going through the gorge.  It was amazing seeing how powerful the water was pushing through the channel and then tumbling down to aqua marine waters.  A large amount of New Zealand’s power is generated from hydroelectricity and seeing the power of Huka falls you could see why.

After Huka falls we went to a place called “Craters of the Moon”.  The name wasn’t too deceptive with huge craters dotted along the walk which had fissures in them with steam outlets pumping out huge amounts of steam due to the geothermal activity below.  The walk around the place was amazing and the place did feel very unearthly but it was both beautiful and fascinating at the same time.

After buying my obligatory badge (I’m collecting fabric badges to do something with when I get home – probably shove in a drawer) we headed to Orekay Korekay.  That so isn’t the right spelling by the way, that’s phonetic and I’ll sort it out when I next grab my guidebook or something.  On the way we stopped at “Puzzle World”, got lunch and played with various wooden puzzles on the table.  Lance was a doofus when I was trying to concentrate insisting that he could do the puzzle etc etc.  I decided a cigarette was a good plan at this point and left him to (not) complete the said puzzle!  Anyway, when we got to Orekay Korekay it was torrential rain as it pretty much had been since I arrived back in North island.  I was a bit non-plussed at the thought of a boat trip and then a hike in the rain so we headed off.

We went to another place that tourists visit to try to see a geyser but we were informed that it was not erupting until the following morning so headed back to the holiday camp.  Later in the evening we headed to Taupo and I used the internet whilst Lance had a few drinks in a nearby bar.  After a gin and tonic we headed to Reparoa to a country pub which turned out to be closed.  We headed back to our holiday camp and had an earlynight.