Tauranga to Whakatane

We arrived in Tauranga on Friday evening & the following morning tried to get in touch with Alan & Lil but they were out so we decided that as the sun was shining we would go to Mount Maunganui, Tauranga’s beach & also an important shipping port, the reason for Tauranga’s prosperity. Anyway, the Mount had to be climbed & as there are several tracks to the top it was not too difficult. After a spot of lunch it was time for our first taste of the heated spas. It may have been sunny but there was quite a breeze with a wintry chill to it but lying in a spa with water temp of 37 deg C we didn’t notice.
We spoke to Lil later on that day & arranged to meet on Sunday to say our goodbyes which we did & then set of to Whakatane to try to arrange a visit to White Island, NZ’s most active volcano, which is situated approx 50kms off shore. However, before we left Alan & Lil it had started to rain & gradually got worse the further we went. We called at the Info Site at Whakatane on the off chance but were told “No chance before Wednesday”. So we continued on towards Rotorua & Taupo with the weather getting worse all the time. We stopped overnight at Golden Springs which is about halfway between the two & listened to the rain beating on the roof of the van.
Monday morning was not much better but we reached Taupo & drove round the lake. Lake Taupo is the largest lake in NZ & is the result of the biggest volcanic eruption in the history of the Earth. The lake is actually a crater lake as are most of the lakes in this area. After the circular tour we stopped of at Huka Falls, the most photographed falls in NZ, where the Waikato River is squeezed from 100mtrs wide to just 10mtrs wide. We also went to Puzzle World , an interactive café with table puzzles while you eat & also outdoor puzzles such as a maze etc. but as it was teaming down this was out of the question. We followed this with a visit to the Volcanic Activity Centre which is self explanatory but very interesting. It appears that the Taupo Volcanic Area which extends form Mt. Ruapehu in the south to White Island in the north is where two plates, the Australasian-Indian Plate & the Pacific Plate, meet. It may be that, sometime in the distant future, the North Island may divide along this line.
On Tuesday 6th May we left Taupo for Rotorua stopping on the way at two thermal centres, the first called Craters of the Moon which is exactly what they looked like but with bubbling water & mud pools & plenty of steam. The second, Orakei Korako also known as the Hidden Valley, has more active geysers than any geothermal field in the country & silica terraces which are reported to be the largest in the world. The area is reached by boat across a lake &, of course, none of the geysers ‘performed’ until we were on our way back across the water.
On reaching Rotorua we booked a Maori evening at the Tamaki Maori Village. We were in one of 5 coach loads & each coach had to pick a ’chief’ to represent them at the ritual welcome ceremony. No prizes for guessing who our coach elected. I had to stand with the other 4 guys in front of the welcoming Maoris who performed various challenges in dance with clubs, spears etc. Not too welcoming, as we felt the weapons brush our arms & faces. Still, after that it was a good evening with a mixture of story-telling, song & dance ending with the Haka & followed with an authentically prepared Hangi meal. (cooked in an earthen oven).
Wednesday was a quiet day for us. After doing the housework we wandered around the town, along the lakeside & in Government Gardens which contains the Rotorua Museum, known locally as the Bath-house, & the Blue Baths as well as Rachel Spring which bubbles water continuously at boiling point. The Gardens also house the local bowls & croquet clubs with several lawns as well as a golf course, driving range, a Petanque club & some more thermal outlets, so its no small area of land.
We booked a tour of Rotorua in a WW2 duck for the following morning which, unknown to us, would take us through Government Gardens again before going out of town to a couple of smaller bodies of water, the Blue & Green Lakes, so called because one reflects the sky & the other the trees. The Green Lake has some very expensive houses round it, one of which can be hired as a holiday home at a rate of 10000 NZD per night.
After the tour we started back to Whaktane to try again for White Island but first we had a free entrance to Hell’s Gate, another thermal park, which we had received when we booked the Maori night. This one though was the first with hot mud baths. So after the walk round the park in we went. The mud pool had a temperature of 40+deg C & yellow in colour because of the sulphur content. It also had the smell to go with it. After the mud there was a freezing cold shower to wash it away & then into a second pool with just the sulphur smelling water & temperature slightly cooler. After a second shower, warm this time, we felt good but left still with the odour lingering.
By the time we arrived back in Whakatane the rain had started again but nonetheless we enquired about White Island. We were told “No” to Friday, 50-50 for Saturday, but more likely Sunday. We decided to wait until Saturday.
Friday the rain, which had gone from a steady drizzle to a down pour during the night, had stopped & we started on a drive round the Eastlands Peninsula to Gisborne & back but what looked to be a pleasant days drive became a struggle as the rain returned & by the time we got back was torrential. Pics are of Mt Maunganui, Huka Falls, Hidden Valley & Hell's Gate