Rotorua, Bay of Plenty and the Coramandel Peninsula

Rotorua is to GeoThermal activity as Las Vegas is to gambling..it is the most thermally active place on earth and also the most touristy place for this kind of thing in the world. There are many Thermal “parks” you can go to each with their own special attraction. The ones in Rotarua itself are big and expensive and offer a range of different attractions including a lot of Maori cultural exhibitions. The Maoris were very established in this area as they used the hot water springs for cooking and warming. However we chose to go to a park outside the city where they had a cross section of deep craters with boiling mud belching fumes, sulphurous streams leaving bright yellow terraces, and huge lakes that were multicoloured and boiled away in various steamy vents. This park was known for its vibrant colours , all due to different minerals dissolved in the water, and again we were mesmerized by the various thermal features knowing that it was the fury below the ground that was the fascinating part. One lake was brilliant yellow ( from the sulphur) and another was fringed with red, and yet another was bright green. We watched as a geyser spurted meters into the air, and saw the layers of ash laid down by the huge supervolcanoe of Taupo.

Rotarua also has a huge forested area which covers the whole caldera and the various cone shaped mountains. One of the forested areas was a grove of Redwoods towering high above the other species of tree. They were planted to see how well they would do in this area as a commercial tree, but years later they have made a stunning forest which is open for hiking..it smelled just like being in North America.

The next stop was the Bay of Plenty which is known for its fruit growing and beaches. The area around Opotiki is still thickly forested with parts of virgin bush. The early settlers tried to farm this area but its ruggedness and poor soil meant that they failed..when they tried to grow grass for animals the ferns and tree ferns just regrew. This is where the story of the movie The Piano was located. There is a swing bridge across the fast flowing river into this area which the pioneer farmers used to get access into the mountains, but now it is only used for hiking.

Across the Bay is the mountainous Coromadel Peninsula. Once again we made the mistake of thinking it was just a short journey when looking at the map..but with the twisting mountainous roads it took much longer..especially since it had started raining heavily. The reason for going there was more than just the scenery which was stunning...but also we wanted to see a phenomenon called the Hot Water Beach.

When we arrived at this beach we sat in the van and looked dismally at the rain lashing the windows and the cold miserable wind and thought...”how much do we really want to do this??” However, since we had driven 3 hours we thought we may as well go and see it. So, dressed in warm woollies over our bathers , rain gear,and towels stuffed under ponchos we crossed a river and walked onto the main beach 100 meters around a rocky cove brrrr! But what a surprise when we got there...people had dug pools ( with shovels they had brought) and were all sitting happily enjoying the warm mineral springs that were bubbling up through the sand on the beach in various spots. At first we just put our toes in, but it was so warm that we stripped off and sat in a pool digging out the sand with a little bowl. There we were in rain and wind, having a spa on the middle of a beach.....bizarre!! But what fun, and we stayed there a good while enjoying it. Some of the bubbles were jolly hot and took people by surprise judging by the odd exclamation of “ouch, S...t !! ’An old chap in the pool next to us made us laugh..he used a metal colander to dig the sand, and was laying on his back with the colander as his head rest and knitted cap on his head and beer in the sand next to him!

Also on this peninsular are many rugged islands in the bays which jut out of the surf with caves and blowholes. The scenery is wonderful and rugged, and the hikes around there very worthwhile. We did a part of the Cathedral Cave walk with views from every ledge.

As we returned from the trip up the Peninsular we travelled through the Karagahake Gorge. A very fast flowing river ran through the mountains cutting a gorge which was scenic with its towering cliffs.

When we stopped at the little village we decided to do the hike across the swing bridge. We were amazed at what we saw. The site was used in the early 1900 ‘s as a very productive gold mine and there were ruins of huge stamp mills and shafts etc built into the gorge. But more amazing is that they hued tunnels along the precipice and walkways for the horses to pull the coco pans of ore along narrow ledges and the mine openings were meters away from the rushing river. These same pathways are now hiking trails, and as you walk along the solid rock ledges you realize that only about 250 men worked on these mines and hewed out this amazing infrastructure. You climb high into the mountain thro solid rock, and there are tunnels with openings for light where you gaze at the narrow tracks below and marvel at the strength and industriousness of those miners.

North Island and the “HOT property”

We caught the ferry from Picton and travelled thro Queen Charlotte Sound anyway..and the clouds obligingly lifted so that we could see the wonderful mountains and bays of the whole Sound Region. Three hours later we sailed thro the heads of Wellington; a very pretty city that seems to hang off the surrounding mountains and set around a huge bay. We stayed the first night at a small campground on one of the bays, then went to the small village of Upper Hutt to see some friends. The Te Paupa museum of Wellington was fascinating as it has the only preserved Giant Squid in the world..a massive creature about 3 meters long and eyes as big as soccer balls. The hooked tentacles could rotate and penetrate its victim to grab a hold. There was also a simulated earthquake room and a whole section devoted to quakes, volcanoes and the precarious existence of the New Zealanders. I guess if you HAVE to live life on the edge ( ‘scuse the pun) you may as well make a tourist attraction out of it...

The countryside of North Island is very pretty...forested, rural and hilly. Again we took a short cut to the west Coast and it twisted and turned and climbed until we came out on the precipice of the most amazing mountain side with sheer cliffs and views forever...another surprise!

That night we stayed at a free campsite in small coastal town and then drove to the highest mountain in North Island....( in fact three active volcanoes together called the Tongariro Nat Park). As we drove towards the mountain we glimpsed its imposing snow clad peak rising above the clouds, and then the rain and mist started so we saw it no more! To drive up to the top ski area is like driving on a moonscape. Obvious signs of its last eruption in 1996 were everywhere..boulders strewn across a lava encrusted landscape, solidified lava flows looking like the frosting dripping off a cake. Soon all that would be covered in a blanket of snow when the ski season began. Reluctantly we decided to leave the area because the rain had set in for a few days and we could not see anything anyway.

We drove to the Lake Taupo area .This lake is actually a crater lake created by a massive volcanic eruption a few thousand years ago. The bang blew a 660 sq km hole in the earth which sent ash flying all over the world and felt as far as China. It’s a huge and beautiful stretch of water, full of trout and all manner of water sports, surrounded by volcanoes and forest clad mountains. We found a small caravan park on the edge of the lake outside the city of Taupo which had its own Geothermal pools for guests. There were 3 of them ( as well as spas) and they were graded “simmering” 40 deg, “rapid boiling” at 42 deg and “thermo” at 44 plus deg...as Paul says, enough to hard boil eggs....sorry!

Nearby were some free Thermal walks in the little village. It was surreal to walk around the earth which was literally boiling mud, hissing steam, and bubbling water in every nook and cranny..the whole area was surrounded by jets of steam coming out on pavements, drains and odd holes in the ground. It really made me wonder as I walked around the little neighbourhood that none of the homes had many walls or gates , yet there were boiling mud holes in vacant lots, hissing steam vents and HOT ground on the pavements, and fumeroles hissing in every second backyard garden..I bet the residents still had to make sure their pools were fenced for the kiddies tho???!!!! It was also amazing to see the huge thermo power stations and steam rising from pipes and ditches along the way. The whole area along the mids section of North Island is on a very active fault line and is one of the most active, simmering geothermal regions of the world. The mountains were calderas, the many lovely crater lakes had hot springs surrounding them, and wherever you looked there was steam and bubbling mud...a surreal place. Yet the local people obviously thought nothing of it and life went on as usual.

We stayed at a lovely free campsite alongside the main river flowing out of Lake Taupo , the Waikato. The rivers and lakes are so clean and blue, and very fast flowing. Near Lake Taupo was the Huka Falls..most unusual because it is actually the River flowing thro a very narrow Chasm and then falling with tremendous force over an 11 meter drop. The speed and fury of the “horizontal waterfall” in the chasm is just incredible, as are the nearby rapids.

As we drove to Rotorua, the Thermal “capital” of NZ, the countryside was full of jets of steam rising from hillsides, and boiling mud pools along backroads. We decided to stay the night just outside Rotorua at a Geo Thermal Pool resort where you could camp and use the various therapeutic pools of various temperatures and surrounded by exotic ferns...mmmm . It was beautiful because they had designed the Thermal pools with rocks and infinity ledges of different heights and temperatures. The folk there were all very relaxed, when Paul and I tried to talk they all raised a collective eyebrow and then went back to sighing mmmmmm.....Soon we were following suit as we soaked before and after dinner, with twinkling lights shimmering off the steamy pools. BUT, this was the most surreal sight we have seen so far! Next to the resort was a boiling river.....The source of the river bubbles up from underground at 55 litres a second and at 98 deg C...the whole area is full of steam and boiling rapids. There are rare ferns growing in the area and fungi/moss thingys that are the beginning of ancient life forms. To get the water cool enough to bathe in they have to run it over a series of cooling ponds, and sprinkle the water over waterfalls...and even then it is HOT! The whole area was covered with steam and we could hear the boiling and hissing right next to the pools. We spent the night listening to the River boiling away and thinking about the fault line we were blithely resting on stretching from White Mountain on one side ( an active marine Volcano,) and the three active volcanoes on the other side.....

Secret Seal hideaway and the Abel Tasman

After reluctantly leaving the Hot Springs we drove to the coastal town of Kaikoura and then started the drive northwards. Along the road we saw the unusual signs “beware seals next 7 kms” . The road was running right alongside the coast only meters from the sea and rocks, and sure enough we soon saw dozens of seals right on the beach and playing in the rock pools below. The larger ones just looked at us as if to say..dont disturb my sleep, but the younger seals were really curious. They can climb right up the bank and get onto the road. We saw a baby seal sleeping under a bush just next to the road but when it saw us it gave a little yelp and slithered down the slope. Some locals told us about a secret place up the road which we visited. The sign could easily be missed and I don’t think many people even know about this enchanting place!

We followed a little river rushing over rocks in a dim forest for 10 min to a waterfall. The baby seal pups come up the river during the day and play at the waterfall till evening till their parents came back from fishing and then they all returned to the beach to be fed. As we walked along the ferny forest and looked down at the river we saw many baby seals slithering over the rocks. But what a surprise to get to the pool and the waterfall...the pool was teaming with baby seals, frolicking in the pool, lying on the banks and sitting on the rocks only feet away from us. They looked at us with their huge eyes and little whiskered chins as if to say “what are YOU doing here?” we could not believe what we saw..they played like little pups ( scuse the pun) , chasing each other in the water, jumping off the jutting rocks into the pool, doing flips and dives, and of course head butting and practice fighting as all baby animals do. The signs said not to touch them cos they could bite, but it was so tempting cos they were obviously curious and wanted to sniff us out. Unfortunately the light was dim so the photos don’t show the numbers in the water or how they were playing and swimming. What a special experience we will always treasure.

That night we stayed at a DOC campsite along the coast, parking a few feet from the beach with towering cliffs behind us. So peaceful and not a light near us. We drove though a small town of Blenheim ( some of the names are So Olde English and others are completely Maori) where we refuelled and stocked up. From there we drove to a ski resort in the mountains called St Arnaud and stopped at a DOC site on the edge of a postcard perfect lake with mountains surrounding us. We were the only people in this huge, beautiful natural camp, although I could see in Summer it was very well used for boating and fishing. Driving on we finally reached the northern side of the country. On looking at the map we thought that we could make it to our destination by afternoon tea because we only had 40 kms to go. So ,we set off across Takaka “hill”.....and we climbed, and we climbed and we climbed. The GPS showed hairpin bends that looked like seismagraph, and we saw valleys below that seemed like they were from an airplane. But still upwards we climbed, thro the clouds, and finally an equally nerve wracking decent. If the New Zealanders call that a “hill”.....

We were now in an area called Golden Bay. We drove to the furtherest point of the West Coast ( yes we had crossed over to the West Coast again!) and the longest spit in the world reaching out into the ocean...37 kms. The west coast here is wild and windy with huge rocks in the sea with intriguing shapes and holes. The geology is amazing showing rocks of all sizes imbedded into the limestone, large caves, folded rocks etc.

The north coast is famous for its wonderful Hike along a stretch of very wild and beautiful coast line called the Abel Tasman. It takes several days to hike end to end with huts at various bays, tidal crossings and wonderful rainforest vegetation. There are some endangered species that thrive here so isolated and dense is the bush. For those wanting to do just parts of the hike there is a water taxi which can take people to various stages, and drop them off/pickup in other parts. We decided we would stay in the DOC campsite at the most northern end of the hike. Once again we saw a gravel road 12 kms on the map, but again had to wind our way through narrow , winding and climbing curves with steep precipices to get there ...but later found out that a BUS service did the trip too......!!!!!! The Campsite was idyllic....natural rain forest right onto the golden beach, total privacy because there were only a few of campers ( in summer the camp holds over 800 sites allocated on a ballot basis ), showers and toilets, and best of all for Paul...a FIREPLACE. He loves to have a fire when he is camping but most places don’t allow fires anymore. Imagine his delight when the ranger pulled up and gave him a whole pile of wood! It was such a special place that if the weather had not turned nasty ...rainy and thick mist...I could have stayed there a week. We did do some of the Hike track and it is one of the most beautiful.

The next day the rain and thick mist covered the whole area..the “killer” hill had no views, and as we drove along the coast of Nelson we only got glimpses of the coast line. Because it was predicted to last the next few days we decided to carry on thro the Sounds and go to Picton and the ferry. The last night on South Island we used a DOC site on the banks of Charlotte Sound overlooking the wonderful bays and mountains...covered in thick cloud. As the ferry travelled through the Sound the mist lifted for a short while and we said goodbye to the lovely scenery, promising to come again one day. After 3 hours the ferry sailed into Wellington with rain and cloud, but still very impressive...the next leg of our journey.