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Left Wellington fairly early on Monday morning (29th) to drive the best part of 400km to Taupo. Lovely weather for it.... started to chuck it down with rain as soon as we left and after quickly trying to decipher how to work the windscreen wipers and not indicate at confused fellow drivers, we were on our way. The drive was pretty crap, the rain didn't relent and in combination with seriously strong sidewinds and completely suicidal drivers on the roads, I am honestly surprised we made it in one piece. However, it was our first foray onto a motorway! Very exciting ;o)
Managed a quick lunch break at KFC before quickly resuming and hitting the Desert Road. Not much like a desert, just very precarious road in the middle of nowhere that is supposed to have fantastic views of the three massive volcanoes in Tongariro National Park (one of them is THE Mount Doom). Unfortunately the skies were pretty grim and loads of cloud so we saw absolutely nada! Being at relatively high altitude however there was quite a bit of snow, though thankfully we managed it and didn't have to stop to work out the snow chains currently residing under the bed! By the time we arrived in Taupo it was about 3.30 and the drive had taken the best part of 5 and a half hours. Found a supermarket and cash (always priorities one and two!) before finding a hostel called Action Down Under. Didn't live up to it's name much but did provide us with a car parking space and the hostels facilities for a night. Found some internet to check emails and look into some activities for the next few days including the Taupo Rapids Jet which we booked for the following day. the only availability was at 2pm but could squeeze some bits in the morning and then come back to Taupo before driving to Rotorua (all the wrong way round and involving lots of doubling back but no problemo). Watched one of our swapped DVDs before dinner, a very average film called Night Watch with a young Ewan McGregor (it's only remote highlight). About 7.30 we cooked up sausages jacket potatoes and beans and chilled out upstairs for a while before returning to the Spaceship for movie number 2.... Shallow Hal!!
The following day (Tues 30th) was fairly busy, getting up about half 7 and on our way to Orakei Korako by 9. It is about 40km north of Taupo towards Rotorua but ended up driving along the same road several times due to the timing of the Rapids Jet. There are several places to see the crazy geothermal stuff that goes on in New Zealand but Orakei Korako is slighttly more off the beaten track hence not as rammed full of tourist like ourselves ;o) When we arrived there were only 4 other people there, perfect for taking the many photos that I was snapping away! Parked up and got a boat across the lake to the main area with boardwalks guiding you all the way round. These take you past all the various sights including bubbling mud pools, geysers, the "Artist's Palette" (area of thin crust that creates lots of different coloured mineral pools), a massive cave and the "Elephant Rock"....and of course the ever present smell of rotten eggs. Yum. Spent a good couple of hours wandering around, stopping at the lookouts and taking photos. Headed back to Taupo for more petrol and came out again along the Huka Falls Road, stopping at the (surprise surprise) waterfall en route. The Huka Falls were pretty cool; the full flow of the Waikato River funnels through a small gap before plunging down a 10m rock shelf making loads of whirlpools - doesn't sound that impressive but at a power of 400 tonnes of water per second it was much better up close! Walked over the footbridge and took photos from the various lookouts before having some lunch in the Spaceship and heading further out of Taupo, following the Waikato River to the Aratiatia Rapids and the Rapids Jet. Arrived there around half 1 and waited until the office was open to get kitted out in a very attractive long waterproof trench coat and a very tight life jacket over the top! Paid our $180 and headed down to the river to squidge into the jet, 12 of us in total including the driver. Apparently this experience is NZ's only true white water jet boat run.... it took us up and down a stretch of river at speeds of up to 80km/h, over the rapids and whistling past rocks and branches by millimetres! At times we even got airborne....although absolutely soaking wet! It was awesome, just hung on for dear life especially when spinning about... had massive face freeze too although the handrails were heated so toasty fingers! Spent about 40 minutes on the water in total, culminating at the Aratiatia Dam, the first of 8 hydroelectric dams on the river which holds back the water above the rapids, released at 2 hourly intervals so the rapids were transformed from a dry waterway to surges of waves and torrents of water when we were on the jet. Got off and traipsed back up to the office, very cold and very wet! Paid $30 for a CD of all the pics that had been taken before getting in the Spaceship, stripping off and cranking up the heating!! Drove to Rotorua which was pretty miserable due to all the rain but found the Kiwi Paka where we paid for a camper van site for 2 nights (only $42) and booked a Maori evening and found a Pak n Save! Spent quite a while uploading photos and on the internet before reading and watching TV in the comfy lounge and finally cooking some tomatoey, chickeny, peppery pasta and drinking one of our bottles of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, mmmm! Had a fairly evening with WALL-E and a bag of M and M's :o)
Had big plans for Wednesday 1st (July, ahhhh this trip is going fast!!) but in actual fact we wrote them off and had a well deserved lazy day. I didn't emerge from the Spaceship until about 11 and after getting changed and having some snackage found Dan reading in the TV lounge. My tum hadn't been 100% so I decided not to zorb and Dan was actually fairly relieved as was feeling lazy, so we chilled and spent the afternoon at the hostel until the Maori pick up. Read, internetted, showered and enjoyed doing NOWT!! At 4.15pm we got picked up by Wati, our bus driver to the Tamaki Maori village. After various pick ups and electing our fellow passenegr Rudi the Norwegian to be our "chief" we arrived to a traditional Maori welcome, complete with shouting, stomping, face pulling and most excitingly very fit Maori men in very little clothing! After all of the welcoming excitement you are allowed to enter through to the village where various Maori people have stalls and talk about their professions. It is in a beautiful setting in the woods and all lit up by fairy lights - feels a bit Disney esque in places but really cool still and interesting too. We learnt about the different meanings behind their tattoos and traditional cooking methods. Next up was the concert, taking place in a large meeting house decorated with carvings and tikis and all sorts. There was about 45 minutes of singing, dancing, hakas, poi and again my scantily clad Maori friends! :o) By this point we were pretty hungry and the hangi didn't disappoint.... served buffet style with massive dishes of chicken, lamb, potatoes, kumara, carrots, stuffing, yummy bread and gravy and then again for seconds! Dessert was fruit salad, steam pudding and custard and a pavlova. SO full! Had a look around the gift shops and finished the evening with more Maori songs and speeches before getting back on the bus. Our guide Sonny and the bus driver Wati had everyone rowing, singing and learning Maori! Back at Kiwi Paka by half 9 or so and too full to move so after spending some time in the TV lounge, attempted to sleep off the food!!
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