Blue Spring

Currently in Paeroa headed for the Coromandel peninsula. A nasty front is headed this way for tomorrow so I'm thinking I'll probably look for a place to hang out for a couple of nights and let it pass.

Rotorua was pretty typical of a spa town but with a large park full of boiling ponds of water, mud pots and free foot baths! Best however was a day hike to Blue Spring on the Te Waihou walkway near Putaruru. Simply stunning! I'll include a picture but I'm sure a google search will yield some that will do it more justice. A sign at the spring said it takes water 50-100 years to reach the spring though I don't know how they could determine that... 70 percent of New Zealand's bottle water is sourced from this spring as well as drinking water for nearby towns.

Erik has opted for surgery and chemo for Rasta. It is scheduled for next Weds.

On the move

Exit flight booked to Cairns, Australia on July 19th. Air New Zealand has a pretty good sale going atm so I went ahead and booked onward travel.

I've been feeling a bit done here even though there is still quite a bit to see. The detour to the west coast of the north island hasn't really turned out - either it is raining or threatening to rain all the time and last night was quite cold. I'm currently in Te Kuiti and will head east today rounding in the next couple of days to Rotorua then on to Auckland and north of there. My hope is that the weather will improve to the north and perhaps I will try to obtain some short term accommodation in or near Auckland for 2-4 weeks in order to sell my car and prepare for moving on. 

I had a terrific time watching a rugby match with some locals a couple of nights ago at a camp ground outside Wanganui. They were part of the Wanganui Caravan Club on a weekend outing. This seems to be a favorite activity for people of my age group in this country. Probably because they are the only ones who can afford a caravan here... while simple campervans can be quite cheap, moving up to what we would call an RV or even a small trailer is quite expensive even an older used one will be north of $30,000. Anyways, I must say, rugby makes our version of football look like a sissy sport. It's a fast moving, high energy chaotic wrestling match for the most part and a lot of fun to watch.

Thwarted

After a day trip to Orakei Korako (Yellowstone lite) on Weds I finally left Taupo and headed to Tongariro Natl park yesterday.  It is a world heritage area and I really wanted to at least take some hikes there but it was completely socked in, raining hard and anticipating snow by today. So I settled for a trip to the visitors center and moved on. 

Currently am in Whanganui and although much of the drive to get here was under blue skies, it now is raining hard once again with gale force winds expected later tonight - whatever that means. I think tomorrow is supposed to clear a bit - certainly hope so. I must admit I'm getting a bit rain weary and  everything is damp.

The drive to get here was lovely.  I'll add some pictures when I get somewhere with wifi (posting this from my phone via email)

Pics as promised:

Random roadside stop:

The Wanganui river:

(History alert)

This is the first memorial erected in New Zealand. I saw it in the park yesterday and found the inscription interesting (in a politically inflammatory sort of way) and I couldn't understand why there was what was clearly an English monument to a bunch of Maori. So I asked about it at the information center.  It honors Maori lives lost defending against a planned attack against the English settlement in the early days of colonization. When the Wanganui Maori got wind of a planned attack against the settlement, they went out and cut off the attackers (a different Maori tribe) and defeated them. There were several other skirmishes in the 5 years following where the Wanganui Maori teamed up with settlers to defend the area. I've heard a couple of Maori mention that they fought amongst themselves during the time of English settlement here but this is the first example I seen. The inscription reads "To the memory of those brave men who fell at Moutoa 14 May 1864 in defense of law and order against fanaticism and barbarism" The names of the fallen Maori are listed on the other sides.

Moving on in the direction of Mount Taranaki today. I have a campground picked out along the coast about an hour from here. Weather is overcast but no rain - hope it holds so my bedding dries out!  Guess it could be worse... I got out of Wellington in time - it's flooding there.

Sad

Rasta has a tumor. For the first time, I think about coming back if only for a time. Erik is looking into his options and I am sure will make the best decisions possible. If the cancer hasn't spread it is likely he will opt for surgery to her extend her life for at least a year and maybe much more. She doesn't seem to be in pain and is happy and energetic. She has always been my favorite dog of all time and it breaks my heart to think her life will be cut short.

Baby it's hot out there!

Stayed in Taupo last night and will again tonight, likely moving on to Tongariro National Park tomorrow. Tongariro is a vast volcanic wasteland. There is a 19km day hike - the Tongariro Alpine Crossing - that I'd really like to do but I suspect I missed the window to do it safely without winter treking gear (they recommend crampons and an ice ax this time of year). They were saying yesterday that transport providers canceled today and tomorrow's trips due to weather. I'll look into it tomorrow to see what conditions are.  

Lake Taupo is a massive lake in the center of the north island. It formed from 2 huge volcanic eruptions in fairly recent history - i.e. it's the caldera of a super volcano much like Yellowstone but with large quantities of water.  The most recent eruption was some 1800 years ago. There were no people living here at the time (the Maori arrived some 700-800 years ago I believe) but it apparently is noted in Chinese history due to the atmospheric changes that resulted. Evidence of geothermal activity is everywhere. I drove by a massive geothermal power plant this morning - a spiders nest of stainless steel piping with scalding hot warning signs on them. There are random steam vents speckled across the country side.

Short walk to Huka Falls this morning.It is situated on the Waikato - New Zealand's longest river and the source of some 15% of all of the power generated in the whole country. Massive amounts of water funneled through a relatively narrow gorge. Huka is a Maori word meaning "foam" and it is indeed foamy and quite impressive.

May 12: Change of plans. Hard rain made it difficult to get going this morning. Tonight will be quite cold at Tongariro so I think I will stay at least one more night here. Been looking at maybe going to Orakei Korako as a side trip - it is a tourist attraction and I tend to hate those but it looks like it might be one worth seeing will decide later today and head either there or Tongariro tomorrow.

Napier

When I pulled into the Eketahuna Motor Camp last Sunday I was greeted by a woman dressed in medieval  garb in fact several people were. It was a group of people who get together for a weekend twice a year, dress up and hold tournaments in stuff like archery on horse back. As it was late on Sunday, it was wrapping up and most had already left. I thought it was pretty cool and was sorry to have missed it. The campground turned out to be the best one of my travels. Not only was it really beautiful, it was cheap! Sunday night was shaping up to be a pretty cold night so rather than attempting to cope with the cold, I took a heated cabin for the whopping price of $15 - liked it so well I decided to stay 4 more nights. I've been feeling a need for a bit of a break from the constant cycle of moving and looking for somewhere to stay and it was a great chance to get everything clean and organized. The break did me good, I found I had a renewed enthusiasm driving through the plush green rolling hill farm land of the valley that brought me to Napier. It really does seem like you can't go anywhere in this country without some mountain range accompanying you for the ride.

Napier proclaims itself to be the "art deco capital", of what I'm not sure... my lonely planet guide book says it rivals Miami - never been to Miami, but okay. Napier's cool architecture stems from a devastating earthquake in 1931 that pretty well flattened the town. When they rebuilt, they did so with the predominate architecture of the time - art deco (think Gatsby). It gives the town an interesting feel but really, I was most impressed by the sunset they dished up last night, incredible.

Typical of art deco architecture:

Headed to Lake Taupo next but it's supposed to rain all next week so I'll be looking for a place to chill for a couple of days. Happy Mother's Day to all of us mothers!