Our First Road Trip - Rotorua and Taupo

2 June 2006

Hi y'all!

This is a long post so get some coffee and make sure the heater is turned on (Heard it's chilly in RSA) It's road trip time! We've waited, we’ve saved and finally we were on the road! Our little road trip would begin by hiring a car for $29 a day. For this we afforded a Nissan Sunny and so “Sunny” helped us along a 1200km adventure lasting a little over 3 days. The plan was to depart from Auckland and drive south via Hamilton to Rotorua, spend a few days there and drive right back to Auckland.

Well, who wants to stick to plans anyway. This is a road trip remember! Sannie the invincible! Backpakers in Rotorua We arrived at the “spa-lodge backpackers in the town of Rotorua (otherwise known as “Rotton-rua” and “Rotovegas”) by 15:00 Saturday afternoon after an incredibly scenic drive through the Waikato province. Our car sounded like a broken record with a multitude of “wow”, “jis ouens, check dit uit”, “incredible”, and “I wish so and so could see this” filling the air! Every bend in the road paints a new picture of awe and wonder as the diversity of New Zealand’s luminescent green hills and forests surprise you over and over again. Yet again I’ve been dumbfounded by God’s creativity. Rotorua is situated in the centre of New Zealand’s north island on the national highways referred to as “Thermal or volcanic explorer highways” It plays home to many natural wonders and world class tourist attractions including, skiing on
mt. Ruapehu (a dormant volcano), the world’s largest drop-zone for sky diving, white water rafting, sailing, cave adventures, underground rafting (black water rafting), hiking in natural forests, natural volcanic activity, spa and relaxation therapy lodges, trout fishing, scuba diving etc etc etc… Shortly after our arrival we took a stroll through the thermal gardens in the town centre. This is a myriad of natural bubbling thermal baths, mud pools, geysers and steamy water puddles. Imagine a place that smells like the “stink bombs” you used to terrorize teachers with at school and you have an idea what a “Thermal wonderland” smells like. If Alice had jumped through the rabbit hole and entered this wonderland she would have worn a gas mask! J I’ve included some pictures so you have an idea what I’m blabbing on about. Believe me when I say that the pictures really do not do the area justice.We had a fill of Pizza hut and gaped at the size of a few of the local maori boys. The lads playing rugby in the All Black team might seem huge and muscular but these guys were in a league of their own! The one dude’s lower arms were as large as my upper legs… No I did not get a photo hehe… Later that night we watched the disappointing Super 14 final at a pub and made friends with some of the locals who were kind enough to show us around the local pubs. We enjoyed some local beer, good conversation (lots of Rugby talk) and an excellent local cover-band. The Kiwi’s really dig rock and roll! We set off early Sunday morning in our beloved “Sunny” to the infamous Whakarewarewa (pronounced faka-rewa-rewa) forest. Redwood translates to “HUGE TREE” in normal English. We first had a look around the information centre where Liza had a fabulous blonde moment. They had cross section cuts of 3 trees on display to show the “age rings” and size difference between a 30 year old pine tree and a 90 year old redwood tree. As John and I was staring at this massive piece of wood Annelize piped up, so is it going to get some more rings? We lost it! Hehe …

While walking in this place of loud silence, with redwoods towering close to a hundred meters above, one is filled with a foreboding sense of treading on holy ground. Never before have I seen so many shades of green and brown, mingling and merging, as shadows play games on the forest floor. We left the shadows to their games and headed further south to Blue and Green lake, two extinct volcano craters filled with fresh water. They’re not named blue and green for jokes, they really are, blue and green. There is a very convenient car park and camping ground on the shores of Blue lake but as Green Lake is sacred to the Maori people no such luxuries are allowed there! We enjoyed a steep, muddy downhill hike to Green Lake and battled to get to waters edge. Where blue lake has a beach and boat launch area, Green Lake has tree ferns and scrubs growing right to the waters edge. The area is covered in Rainforest and both lakes’ water is crystal clean. After another photo session and good measure of “wow!” and “awesome!” we huffed and puffed our way back up the slippery hill. Next we drove north to the Agrodome, home of the ZORB. To ZORB you have to allow yourself to experience the innards of a washing machine up close and personal. First you change into some clothes you want to be cleaned, then you drive up a very steep hill over a very bumpy road, pondering your fate… Then you join some warm water in a massive plastic ball , one, two or three people at a time and get hurled down the hill. You start laughing uncontrollably as soon as you get the move on and don’t stop until you’re redressed and heading home… What an experience! We rounded of this fun packed day with another scenic drive, this time through “ Paradise Valley”. Fly fisherman beware, the guys at Paradise Valley are situated in the breeding area of Rainbow and Brown trout moving upstream from Lake Rotorua. The stream is known to wield trout well over 5 Kg’s in weight but that is not all. These buggars actually show you the breeding ground full of monstrous fish and do not allow you to catch there! The hills in this area resembles the Scottish highlands and as such I might just trade my fondness of the Dullstroom area for a new love.

ZORB Baby YEA! (just for the record, what you are looking at is a girl in a ball, rolling down a hill in the countryside. I know it looks like some rich old mans lawn but it is natural wild growing kiwi countryside...)

Big Tree (Yes I'm wearing this springbok jacket everywhere)

Big Trees... and Good Boys...

Easy to see why this is called a Giant Tree Fern. The midget in the right corner is John...

Blue Lake

The next morning we headed to Waimangu Valley for a surreal walk through one of the worlds finest heritage sites. The valley was formed in 1886 when mt Waimangu erupted in one of the greatest volcanic eruptions of written history. The eruption split mt Waimangu in two, creating the valley, blasting lake
Rotomahana to 20 times its original size and destroyed all animal, bird and plant life in the entire area. This eruption was followed by the worlds largest natural geyser eruption when echo crater erupted for 4 years in in the period 1900-1904 blasting water, rock and mud up to 400 meters into the air! The last eruption occurred in 1917 when the frying pan flat erupted creating frying pan crater. The entire area is geothermically active providing bubbling mud pools, boiling lakes and extreme ground coloration. After the 1917 eruption the Master Gardner got to work on recreating the landscape and natural reforestation repopulated the entire area with an abundance of natural forest. As such this is one of the worlds most pristine examples of how nature recovers after such a devastating volcanic eruption. The walk takes you from a panoramic view of the valley all the way to the valley floor, past echo crated, frying pan lake and the mysterious turquoise colored inferno crater. This crater is a tidal pool which fills to overflowing and then mysteriously empties itself just to fill up again. When inferno crater overflows it’s water averages a temperature of 90 degrees centigrade…

At inferno crater we tackled the steep climb up mt Hazard. This brings you to your knees in wonder as you have an elevated look at Rift valley and Lake Rotomahana. Down the other side of the mountain you go ever following a warm stream through a cool forest until you pass warbrick terrace and end at Lake
Rotomahana itself. Normally it would take 2 hours and 45 minutes to cover the 5 kilometer trail but with Louis the monster photographer looking for a Pulitzer prize winning snap of the three musketeers it took much, much longer! Except for the moans and groans of steep uphill climbs and sulphuric thermal stench in the air, John and Annelize made excellent photographic subjects. No really, if you ever feel the need for a really entertaining hike, join the 3 of us, we will make sure your laugh fitness is challenged as much as your walking fitness is!

Waimangu Valley - The Smokey stuff is steam and gas as result of thermal volcanic activity.

Inferno Crater... The Blue stuff is super hot water and the white stuff is salpeter deposits

In the Valley

Too much hiking will do this to ya!

Huka Falls, can like to have some blue water please...

Lake Taupo at Night

Lake Taupo (The big rock in the foreground is a huge Island in the lake)

On our way to Taupo we were gaping at all the sheep covering a thousand hills while Annelize was eating some jelly sweets. One of these sweeties was shaped like a cat… She deftly shoved the cat in my face going meeee like a sheep! I laughed my but off.

Our first road trip in new Zealand had a well rounded finish as we drove south from Rotorua, past the minute town of golden springs (careful not to flinch or you’ll drive right through it without knowing it’s there), via Taupo and around Lake Taupo, New Zealands largest natural lake. I have never ever seen such clean water. Even though a lake it reminds you of being on a Mediterranean Island. And to this lake and its trout streams the awesome Huka falls and you have paradise. After more than a 1000 km’s drive, many laughs and a gazillion moments of awe and wonder we reached
Auckland again.

Remember we have told you all a million times that this place is G-R-E-E-N and hilly... Well here's some proof, unfortunately the pics don't do the scenery any justice even when you view them at full resolution...

Green Hills

More Green Hills

There you have it! Our first road trip was an enormous success. Just hang tight there will be many more to follow.

Just a little footnote! We actually did jump off the infamous sky tower - TWICE! To have a look at the story and pics please visit the following link to John's site:

http://pebs.wordpress.com/2006/06/02/sky-tower/