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We visited the Waio Tapo Thermal Park today, we left early and got there by 10am which meant we missed the Lady Knox geyser erupting at 10:15am because I didn't want to get out of bed this morning. Along the way we noticed a thick fog in the air, we could literally see water evaporating up from the lakes and in some areas there were large puffs of white steam rising up into the clouds forming a thick blanket across the sky. At first we couldn't see but then we realised the steam was coming out from large pipes. We later learned that it was a geo thermal power plant. I said to Chris I'd love to tell a child this was where clouds were made, I'm sure they would believe it.
When we walked into the gift shop we both saw a big brown fluffy sheep and wanted it straight away. It was so soft and cuddly, made from real sheep skin and fur. It was quite expensive, £40 but we both really wanted it so we got the staff to put it behind the counter to buy when we left the park later.
One of the first things we noticed when we started walking through the thermal park was the smell of rotten eggs in the air, that was the smell of sulphur gasses being released from the ground. We could smell it earlier as we were driving but now we were in the park the stench was really strong. There was steam rising up everywhere, from small holes to large open pits, signs and fences were put up to stop visitors from getting too close and falling in, we were walking across an active volcano! It was really interesting looking at all the different craters and bright colours that have been produced from the volcanic activity over the years and we could see how it had affected and shaped the land around us. Trees were covered in bright orange rust and there was a huge pool called the devils bath, the pool was filled with bright green water. In another crater we could see boiling hot mud bubbling. Birds didn't mind the smell and had decided to make the crater their home, the cracks in the walls and heat coming up from the ground was perfect for keeping them warm during the cold winters and incubating their eggs.
We spent one and a half hours walking around the park, we walked along all three of the tracks available and visited all twenty five stops each showing a different aspect of what was going on. We both really enjoyed walking around and learning a bit about it but after one and a half hours of the smelly sulphur we were ready to leave.
It was a lot warmer now that the sun was out, we went back into the gift shop and paid for our fat sheep which I have named Fat Sam and went back to our camper van to make lunch. This time we made chicken burritos with lettuce, peppers, avocado, cheese and salsa! They were too good to save so we ate all four each and felt very fat after.
After we cleaned up Chris made us a hot drink each and then drove for two and a half hours to Tauranga. We stopped along the way to use the free wifi in Mc Donald's so Chris could contact his friends in Auckland and plan a night out together but as usual the connection was crap so we left after two minutes. As soon as we were pulling out I realised I had forgotten my sunglasses! They were an expensive present from Chris so he was really annoyed at me. I quickly ran back in to find them but they had already been taken. I felt really bad after and we didn't speak for the rest of the drive. Except when Chris told me it feels like I'm a child with him at times and said he's never getting me new ones :-(
When we got to Tauranga we found the Silver Birch Holiday Park. We parked next to the river which was nice, we both hoped we could do a bit of fishing but reception could only give us a hand line. We could see the river was full of weed and rocks so there was no point fishing from the bank.
It was getting dark outside and really cold again so Chris made himself some soup to warm up, I couldn't believe he had room in his stomach, I was still stuffed from the burritos earlier!
A little later a fat black Labrador turned up outside the camper van, he was really excited to see us so Chris played with him for a while. Then we went and sat in the games room to watch tv, it was freezing in there so we snuggled up on the sofa with our blankets wrapped around us. We ended up watching big fat gypsie weddings and Chris's favourite, Bones before going to bed just after 11pm.
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