On our third day in New Zealand, we picked up our camper van which would be our home for the next three weeks. We’d splashed out a little bit and gone for a slightly bigger one than we had in Tasmania – one with a toilet and shower and that we could stand up in! A bit larger than what we usually drive, it took a little bit of getting used to, but we had the journey to Rotorua to perfect our technique. Claire even got complemented on her reverse parking when we arrived at the campsite (Gareth was jealous)!
For those of you that have been to Iceland, Rotorua would not look out of place; just swap the woolly hat and scarf for shades and a sun hat! After spending most of the day on camper related activities both of us needed to stretch our legs. As we only had that afternoon in Rotorua we decided to dig out the running shoes. Our first kilometre took us through Kuirau Park, where the standard riverside walkways and green spaces are punctuated by steaming vents, boiling mud and a decidedly eggy smell! Certainly not your average park!
We crossed town and heading through government gardens (home of the hot spring baths and Rotorua Museum) before running along Rotorua lakefront and back to camp. We enjoyed an after run soak in the natural hot springs at the campsite – a definite perk to living is such a geothermally active area! Another perk is the tourism it (and the traditional Maori communities in the region) brings to the area. There is quite a large number of ticketed geothermal parks, Maori villages and activities in the Rotorua area.
The variety of attractions in the area meant we had some decisions to make about how we spent our only morning. We eventually settled on a trip to the Waimangu Volcanic Valley where life is rapidly restoring itself following the eruption of Mt Tarawera and Lake Rotomahana – in 1886! The changes in ecosystems and geothermal features since the eruption (and following smaller eruptions since then) have been fully documented, with the area playing host to Victorian era eco-tourists following the eruptions and subsequent geyers. A 2 hour walk took us past crater lakes, steaming acid ‘frying-pan’ lake and rivers and up to viewpoints overlooking the valleys. A short bus ride (and longer peruse of the interesting gift shop) later and we were back on the road heading to Lake Taupo.
Lake Taupo is a giant lake in the centre of New Zealands North Island created 26,500 years ago by a super volcano (the world’s largest eruption in the last 70,000 years). The lake shores are also home to some large Maori rock carvings, which can only be accessed by boat. We went for the ‘turn up and see’ approach to tour booking and were really fortunate that the only boat with space that afternoon happened to be an ecotour on New Zealand’s only electric powered yacht (very eco friendly when you consider that 86% of New Zealand’s electricity is renewable!) – a new experience for both of us.
Our skipper James was full of interesting information about Lake Taupo, sailing and the environment which he shared with us during our pretty choppy trip out to the carvings (the wind was getting quite close to Barbary’s 30 knot limit). These carvings were completed over a four year period in the 1970s by a Maori master stone carver as a gift to the town of Taupo. The isolated location of the rockface makes it incredible to imagine the effort that must have gone into creating these.
After our boating trip we heading into Taupo to the Crafty Trout micro brewery and craft beer pub where Gareth enjoyed trying a few different beers whist allocated driver Claire found a dog to play with – win/win! In the early evening we said goodbye to Taupo and headed south. Torgariro Crossing here we come!
Claire and Gareth go travelling! 