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Hello all,
Just a quick blog for th last few days (cos we have managd to get free internet in this hostel...)
On thursday we drove south from Taupo into the Tongariro National Park to look at the volcanoes in the park (Ruapehu, Tongariro and Ngauruhoe - Which make up Mordor and Mount Doom in Lord of the Rings)... So after about an hour and a half drive, we arrived and of course the clouds descended so we couldnt actually see the mountains at all... (well this is the island of the long white cloud!) After a little walk up onto a hill we could make out the bottom of Tongariro and Ngauruhoe, and after walking a bit further Tom saw the bottom of Ruapehu. After getting disheartened with the clouds, we set off thinking things might brighten up later, so spent the time on a couple of walks to waterfalls and river rapids. As we were driving up the western side of the park, it seemed the clouds wee lifting, but still we couldnt see much even after waiting for a while, so we thought we would give the other side of the park a go, and drove around the top to the easten side, by which time the clouds had risen off Ruapehu (the largest and most active volcano) so we could get some great views of the snow capped mountain. Unfortuanely there we no eruptions taking place that day......
On Friday we went to the 'Craters of the Moon' - a thermal area created by the thermal power station, where there are mud pools, fumeroles and steaming vents in the ground. Then we drove north to Rotorua, our destination for the next 3 nights.
Today (Saturday) we went to the Zorb site just north of the town when for a fee you get to roll down a hill in a big plastic ball inside a bigger plastic ball with a layer of air in between - with warm water inside. Great fun, hopefully we'll have some photos up for you to see later. Later on today we'll be going to a Hangi - a Maori concert and feast, plus a bush walk and glow worms.
Hopefull tomorrow we will get to see a Geyser before heading off to Auckland on Monday, ready to fly to the US of A on Wednesday...
Thanks for all the messages, keep them coming,
Love to all,
Yvette and Tom
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