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This is the capital of the geothermal activity in New Zealand with steaming hot springs, exploding geysers, bubbling mud pools and loads of sulphurous gas therefore giving the whole area a lovely eggy smell! Uumm umm! Lol
We headed straight to the city’s I-Site to find out some more about the activities on offer here and much to our surprise (as we are so indecisive) booked our accommodation for 2 nights, a Maori cultural night, a visit to the museum, a visit to the Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland and a Mud Bath & Sulphur Spa all for £175.00 between us! Compared to the US it’s really cheap here for us as the exchange rate is good at the moment and I dread to think how much all that would have cost over there!
So after an eventful day we headed to our campsite looking forward to the activities we had planned.
Thursday 23rd
So on Thursday we woke up early as we we’re visiting the Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland which is home of the Lady Knox Geyser which erupts daily at 10:15am. The geyser is actually forced to erupt by dropping a soap like substance into the cone which they regulate everyday so that everyone has the chance to see the eruption.
After we witnessed this spectacular site (see video!!) we went on our walk of the thermal site which covered about 3km. In which time we visited the Devil’s Home, the Devil’s Ink Pots and the Devil’s Bath amongst other things so we are now well and truly devilled out!
After that we headed off to the museum which is located in the old bath house which was opened in 1908 designed as a spa where different treatments were performed including electric baths to ‘cure’ things like obesity. Maybe it was one of these patients that invented RC’s aye mum?! :o)
It also housed some collections on the big volcanic eruption in 1886 where 120 people died from the falling ash, mud and gases and whole villages disappeared. The famous Pink and White Terraces were destroyed which were once described as the 8th natural wonder of the world.
Obviously there was a collection on a Maori tribe and culture and a big section on the B Company 28 Maori Battalion who fought in World War II which was really interesting and moving.
After that we headed back to the campsite to get ready for our Maori night which we were both really looking forward to. We had chosen the Mitai tribe night and there was several other choice which all varied slightly in content and price but ours included a traditional Hangi (meal cooked in the ground), an ancient warrior canoe (waka), traditional cultural performance and a sacred freshwater spring which was home to glow worms.
As we waited for the courtesy bus to collect us from the campsite we met a French-Canadian couple from
Quebec called Max and Caroline who we chatted to and ended up being sat with on the Maori night.
We had a really good night watching the dancing, singing and the Mitai tribes haka etc. The meal was delicious and meat cooked perfectly. Then at the end of the evening we were led into the wood and saw some of the glow worms they have although they weren’t very bright!
We got on really well with Max and Caroline and had a few games of pool when we got back to the campsite. We are happy to say it ended 2 - 0 to the UK! We had decided by this point that we were going to head straight for Wellington now as there was nothing else we wanted to do in the North Island and as these guys were heading towards Taupo the next day they were going to hop in with us to save them hitch-hiking down there as we would be driving through.
We all headed for some shut eye as the next morning we would be indulging in our Mud Bath and they would be walking around the geothermal park before we were going to depart from Rotorua.
Mark……
So the next morning we had decided to head for Hells Gate at about 9:30 and set an alarm (just to make sure). We were up in time and as I exited the camper to turn off the gas and un-hook us ready for departure (with a face full of yesterdays muffin) I was met by the smiling face of Max who had popped up to drop off their bags with us. Although temporarily speechless, the universal communication of facial expressions and hand gestures got me through!
Anyway, we arrived at Hells Gate at about 10:30 along with the slight trickling of rain (typical!) and headed straight for the mud baths…
Now we were expecting a mud pool to be literally that - a pool of mud, but clad in our swimming gear we descended into what was basically a bath full of warm muddy water with the thick, silky mud being on the bottom of the bath so you had to scrape a load off the bottom and smear it around yourself. It was pretty cool though, like re-visiting your youth but with a twist (ie. this time you could get dirty and not get a rollocking for it!) Woohoo!
You were only allowed 20 minutes in the mud bath, apparently for medical reasons, although that turned out to be plenty of time as the mud had dried and cracked all over us by that point.
The other stipulation to having a mud bath, apparently again for ‘medical reasons’, was you had to have a COLD shower (which was outside, in the cold and rain) before you could then enter the other spa pools. Without a word of a lie it was the single most horrific experience of my life thus far.
Being the bloke I let Aimee go first and laughed as she took the plunge and gasped for air, the tables were soon reversed though (much less amusing). All we could hear was the sound of the two spa staff members wetting themselves at the sound of us in pain!
Medical reasons by a**e.
The other sulphur pools were slightly more pleasant than the shower (which wasn’t difficult), they had one warm one and another that was pretty much a liquid sauna. Nice though but we couldn’t stay in there for too long because it just got too hot so after half an hour or so we headed for the showers and then back to the camper for a nice cuppa and a kiwi (when in Rome!) whilst we waited for Max and Caroline to finish their walk.
So, with everyone accounted for we hit the road to Taupo and ultimately Wellington…
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