Geothermal Madness

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Originally uploaded by littlesaint_uk

What a difference ten days make. I am writing this in a rainy Greymouth on New Zealand’s south island, a world away from the sunshine of Rarotonga!

As well as acclimatizing to the radically different weather here, we’ve also been getting used to a new way of travelling (for us anyway). For New Zealand, we decided to swap hostels and guest houses for the intimacy of a campervan. And our campervan is particularly intimate – it’s a converted Toyota people carrier, with a bed in the boot!

Our campervan is, of course, our passport to discovering New Zealand, or at least making the best of the three weeks we have here. Our first week was spent travelling round the north island. We exhausted Auckland in two days, or rather Auckland exhausted us – we spent most of our time there in bed. However, it was probably jet lag rather than the hectic pace of New Zealand’s largest city!

With only a week on the north island, time was too short to allow us to get to the Bay of Islands, which is located to the north of Auckland. However, it would have be unforgivable to miss the Coromandel Peninsular and we spent our first night in the campervan at Hahei on a site overlooking a fantastic beach (unfortunately that night I had my first exposure to sandflies which was not so fantastic!).

While the peninsular is quite far from New Zealand’s most famous hot springs and volcanoes it does have geothermal attractions of its own. One is Hot Water Beach where you can dig your own hot pool. All you do is head down to the beach at low tide, pick a spot and dig a hole. If you have picked the right spot you can enjoy a nice hot salt water bath. If not, you can watch other people having a hot water bath.

Unfortunately, our first hole was too hot to stand in, (so hot we had to destroy it in case kids injured themselves) our second was too cold, and we only got to bathe our feet in a hot spring when a family took pity on us and allowed us to use their pool. Still, Kieron was very proud of his effort with our first attempt, which did produce some nice photogenic steam.

Next stop on the geothermal trail was Rotorua, where we stayed for two nights. It isn’t much of a town, but nearby there’s plenty to see, including Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland, home of the famous Lady Knox Geyser. The geyser is triggered every day at 10.15 sharp by some rangers who sprinkle some magic dust (otherwise known as washing power).

We would have missed this performance had we not been reading up on the Thermal Wonderland over breakfast thirty kilometres away. Alerted to our oversight we set off immediately for the park and arrived just in time to see the geyser release its famous jet of water.

The rest of the morning was spent looking round the multicoloured pools nearby, including the fizzing Champagne Pool and the murky Devil’s Ink Pots. The colour of the pools depended on the minerals present, some were a bright sulphuric yellow, others were tinted by magnesium or other elements from the periodic table.

Back in town we visited a Kiwi conservation centre to find out about New Zealand’s national bird and to see one in the flesh. We got to see a cranky middle aged female and an industrious youth who workers at the centre hope to matchmake with a suitable female in the near future. We also learned some interesting facts about Kiwis. Did you know that they have the same blood temperature as mammals, not birds? They also have one of the shortest beaks in the avian world if you measure from the nostril to the tip.

Napier was a last minute inclusion in our itinerary, but it proved worth visiting, not least because the weather was much more pleasant than elsewhere on the north island. Napier’s brilliant weather and coastal location made it a popular holiday destination in the early 19th century. However, the town was flattened by an earthquake in 1931 and rebuilt in Art Deco style.

This style of architecture really works in Napier. The sunny weather and the palm lined streets makes it possible to believe you are in California. But I’m not sure it would work well in England; the same buildings would probably look drab and dingy after a few rainfalls.

Our week in the north island was rounded off with dinner at some friends of my Dad’s who live near Wellington, and watching fireworks for Guy Fawkes night in Wellington Harbour. Then we boarded the ferry for Picton on our way to more adventures in the south island. More about that in my next post.