Part 7

Day 17


When we left Wanganui it was overcast and very windy. While the forecast I had seen a couple days earlier had predicted rain I thought we may end up lucky and not have any. It turned out the forecast was right and I was wrong! We drove northwest on Highway 3 and by the time we got to Hawera it was raining off and on. At an overlook near the town of Opunake the wind was blowing so hard from the east that it was blowing the tops off the breaking waves creating what looked like rooster tails! Since I missed the turn we ended up on Highway 45 which was okay as that kept us close to the coast and hopefully still would give us a reasonable view of Mount Taranaki. Turns out that all we could get was just a brief look through the clouds of the volcano.

By the time we got to New Plymouth it was raining steady so that knocked out any thought of walking around and seeing the place. So we headed back down Highway 3 to Egmont village and took the road up to one of the viewing sites on the flank of the mountain thinking that there was a chance we could go up enough in elevation (the peak is over 2900 metres high above sea level) that we might pop up through the top of the clouds but again I was wrong. So we turned around and drove back to Highway 3, went to Inglewood and then took the road north.

At Mokau we stopped for lunch. While we had originally planned to just pull into a wayside stop for sandwiches the rain convinced us to do otherwise. So we had Hawaiian burgers (hamburger with a slice of ham and a slice of fried pineapple, along with most of the usual fixings) instead. After lunch we then stopped at the local beach where it is all black sands. On close examination it appears the sand is either just fine magnetite (I don’t have my magnet with me so I couldn’t confirm) or some other dark silvery gray metallic mineral. Regardless it is fine grained and definitely black!

It was still raining by the time we got to Otorohanga so we thought we might check out the limestone caves at Waitomo. With all the sheep around I know that there is a lot of fleece in New Zealand but here they take it a step further in that they charge a minimum of $45 per person for a 45 to 75 minute tour! As I wanted no part of that kind of fleecing we went instead and saw the Otorohanga Kiwi House. Here they have an indoor enclosure that mimics, during the day, the nocturnal conditions when kiwi’s come out to play, and this time we were not disappointed! We got to see two live kiwi’s; a male by the name of Ewan who is 14 years old and a small female, about a year old and which neither of can remember her name. After watching them up close and personal for a while we then went outside where they have other indigenous birds and reptiles including Weka’s and Pekeko’s which we have seen in the wiid fairly frequently. We also got to see a Kea as well New Zealand parakeets. Even though it started raining again we walked around under our umbrella marvelling at all the birds on display.

As it was late afternoon we decided to call it quits for the day and found a motel in Otorohanga eventually ending up at the Otorohanga and Waitomo Motels. The room we ended up in is the nicest we have had so far during our stay here in New Zealand. It is a suite with a separate bedroom, kitchen and a dining area. So rather than eating out we went to the local Woolworth’s grocery store and bought the makings for a very fine meal: lamb leg steak, rice, fresh carrots and salad. Janice just fried the lamb in butter with a little bit of salt and pepper and was it ever good! Much better than the lamb chops I had at the Barrelhouse Restaurant back in Dannevirke which, while tender were relatively tasteless.

Day 18

Since we were not too far from Rotarua we decided to try again at finding the main geothermal site, Waiotapu. It is host to the Lady Knox geyser that erupts at 10:15 every morning. To make sure we got there in time to see the geyser erupt we left Otorotanga at 7:30 am. I had programmed the GPS to take us there and relied on it to guide us. It turns out it had us taking some back roads until we were on Highway 5, rather than taking Highway 1 which is what we would have tried on our own. We made it there with plenty of time to spare. On the road into the site we stopped at the mud pools where we took some pictures, including a short video.

It turns out that the reason the geyser erupts so regularly is that a little bit of soap dropped down its vent guarantees an eruption. So a park attendant did just that and pretty soon water was shooting up into the air!

After watching the gushing water for a while we then went and toured the rest of the facility. There are numerous sink holes with fumerolic activity as well as hot springs. The latter result in such world famous features such as champagne pool where carbon dioxide bubbles make it look like sparkling wine and terraced sinter (amorphous quartz) that has precipitated from the hot water as it cools. All in all it was definitely worth making the trip!

We then stopped off at a picnic area at the car park and had lunch. After that we took Highway 5 down to Highway 1 and then headed northwest to Hamilton arriving there around 4 pm. We stopped and looked around the Hamilton Botanical Gardens for a while and then found a motel in which to spend the night.

Tomorrow we will make the trip to Auckland and then depart New Zealand the next day. As a result this is going to be the last entry, or at least until after we get back. It has been a real blast with many ups and downs, literally! While there are parts of the country we never got to, such as the northeast corner of the North Island or the south end of the South Island we still saw a lot of what New Zealand has to offer. And we can now draw some comparisons with what we are used to back in Canada, but I will save that for a later date. Bye for now!