4/2/18
We had now finally made it to the North Island
We had a really chill city day in Upper Hutt. We did laundry got a new headlight for Bongo, shopped, had an India lunch special, and had McDonald's icecream (McD icecream is 75c in NZ and tastes way better than it does in the US). We drove to Taupo where we camped.
4/3/18
In the morning, we visited the super powerful Huka falls, which is a large volume of water flowing with crazy power through a narrow gorge before dropping 10m. This is another place that I had vividly remember as a young child visiting. Breathtaking and scary.
After visiting the falls, we drove to Rotarua, which is a very geothermally active area. First we visited Wai-O-Tapu, which was a large and really cool area. We hiked around and investigated the many multi-colored pools, bubbling mud, fumaroles, etc. The area had some fantastically colored pools, some of which almost seemed fake. We then visited Whakarewarewa village, an active Maori village right in the middle of a geothermal area. They would cook all of their food in steam vents and bathe in the hotsprings. In the winter, they'd heat their homes from the geothermal activity. While we were there we took a tour of the village and also watched a dance show. We also took a walk amongst their thermal pools and bubbling mud. At the end we watched their 3 geysers for a bit. We cooked dinner down at Lake Rotarua. We camped at a nice holiday park (RV park). It was very fancy for us. We stayed there b/c it included thermal pools that we soaked in.
4/4/18
Started the day with a soak in the mineral pools and a swim in the heated pool. We then went back to a section of Wai-O-Tapu where we watched the Lady Knox geyser erupt. They use a surfactant to coax the geyser to erupt everyday at 10:15am. The geyser would erupt on its own, but not as regularly if they didn't add the surfactant. It was discovered by prison work release camp. They were bathing after work and the soap (a surfactant) caused it to erupt while they were bathing!
Geysers have a special meaning to us b/c our last names together combines to Guyser. Throw in the first names, and it's Elvis Gusyer.
After watching the geyser erupt for nearly an hour, we dove to Taupo where we had lunch at the huge lake there. We did some business stuff in Taupo, then we soaked in some free hot springs near town along the river. We witnessed a beautiful sunset over the lake with volcanoes in the background. We camped high up on the plateau, and when the near full moon rose, it illuminated the landscape around us, and showed us that we were at the foot of some large volcanoes.
We had now finally made it to the North Island
We had a really chill city day in Upper Hutt. We did laundry got a new headlight for Bongo, shopped, had an India lunch special, and had McDonald's icecream (McD icecream is 75c in NZ and tastes way better than it does in the US). We drove to Taupo where we camped.
4/3/18
In the morning, we visited the super powerful Huka falls, which is a large volume of water flowing with crazy power through a narrow gorge before dropping 10m. This is another place that I had vividly remember as a young child visiting. Breathtaking and scary.
After visiting the falls, we drove to Rotarua, which is a very geothermally active area. First we visited Wai-O-Tapu, which was a large and really cool area. We hiked around and investigated the many multi-colored pools, bubbling mud, fumaroles, etc. The area had some fantastically colored pools, some of which almost seemed fake. We then visited Whakarewarewa village, an active Maori village right in the middle of a geothermal area. They would cook all of their food in steam vents and bathe in the hotsprings. In the winter, they'd heat their homes from the geothermal activity. While we were there we took a tour of the village and also watched a dance show. We also took a walk amongst their thermal pools and bubbling mud. At the end we watched their 3 geysers for a bit. We cooked dinner down at Lake Rotarua. We camped at a nice holiday park (RV park). It was very fancy for us. We stayed there b/c it included thermal pools that we soaked in.
4/4/18
Started the day with a soak in the mineral pools and a swim in the heated pool. We then went back to a section of Wai-O-Tapu where we watched the Lady Knox geyser erupt. They use a surfactant to coax the geyser to erupt everyday at 10:15am. The geyser would erupt on its own, but not as regularly if they didn't add the surfactant. It was discovered by prison work release camp. They were bathing after work and the soap (a surfactant) caused it to erupt while they were bathing!
Geysers have a special meaning to us b/c our last names together combines to Guyser. Throw in the first names, and it's Elvis Gusyer.
After watching the geyser erupt for nearly an hour, we dove to Taupo where we had lunch at the huge lake there. We did some business stuff in Taupo, then we soaked in some free hot springs near town along the river. We witnessed a beautiful sunset over the lake with volcanoes in the background. We camped high up on the plateau, and when the near full moon rose, it illuminated the landscape around us, and showed us that we were at the foot of some large volcanoes.
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