Rotorua

Today we set out to discover Rotorua, known for its geothermal activity and sulphur smell (yes Warwick did ask me if I’d farted when we drove into Rotorua, but it was only Rotorua). We went to the Whakarewarewa (pronounced Fakare-ware-wa) geothermal village advertised as New Zealand’s Mauri Cultural Centre, our main interest was to see the native Mauri carving and see some kiwi’s. We should have known better when the Japanese tourist buses arrived at the front while we were paying $50 each for tickets. It was interesting to hear about the Mauri history and culture; they were originally from Polanesia and arrived in NZ in 150 AD, and to learn the meaning behind the Mauri carving. The Mauri show reminded us of a school production of a Gilbert and Sullivan musical and involved getting members of the audience with little or no co-ordination to join in. The kiwi house was the highlight for me even though there were only 2 kiwi to look at and we were inundated by more Japanese tourists. The thermal areas were no were near as impressive as White Island and it had been made very safe for tourists.

The best of the Whakarewarewa thermal stuff

Whakarewarewa Thermal Pool

An X-ray image of a pregnant Kiwi bird before laying its egg - apparently they have the largest egg to animal ratio - it would be equivalent to a human giving birth to a 2 year old!

We decided we’d seen enough hot gas for the trip and decided to get the Fakare out of there and head further south. The drive took us past Lake Taupo, the largest in New Zealand, where we stopped for a break and found the toilet floor flooded with what looked and smelled like you don’t want to know what (fortunately we had agreed not to do #2’s in the campervan toilet). Once we stopped the blame game (Did you close the toilet valve after you finished?) we cleaned it up the best we could, closed the toilet valve and got back on the road. We ended up stopping for the night in the Tongariro National Park, where Mount Tongariro, Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu are located and was where many of the scenes for the Lord of the Rings were shot. We stayed at the Wakapapa Village (you know how to pronounce it) one of the ski villages in the park. While trying to park Moby at the caravan park I backed into a tree and broke one of the taillights, luckily we took out the extra insurance so no excess. It was freezing there, not as cold as Chicago in Feb but still pretty bloody cold. I slept in just about all the warm clothing I had and was still cold.