Friday, 19th January 2018
Another day woken up with rain! It turned out to be a leisure easy morning, getting our breakfast fixed, getting onto social media – finally our WIFI is working! Had a strange dream that Gerry’s house had its roof blown off with the hefty storm that was raging through Europe – it turned out that his daughter Lisette, had called him at night when we were asleep to let him know that some roof tiles had flown away! Must have heard that conversation in my subconscious and embroidered my dream on that theme. Anyway all is well as between Gerry and Lisette, they will be getting a professional to fix it. Mind you there has been quite some storm damage in Holland that it will busy getting people to fix the damage……..And my home and my children are all ok!!
Anyway, breakfast consisted of greek yoghurt with muesli and fresh fruit and then a slice of – German – bread with cheese and coffee and tea! Good job we had done our grocery shopping yesterday evening! We were in no hurry to go outdoors as it was still pouring with rain. Anyway by the time we showered and got ready, the rain had eased somewhat. The plan was to drive down to the Huka Falls and afterwards visit the Geothermal area, Crater of the Moon.
Stunning views of the Waikato River crashing through a narrow chasm and continuing its journey at a more leisure pace. We went on a walk further up river on the right bank and the sights were magnificent . Back in the car we headed further down the road and came to another Lookout post of the river so we had another short walk but this time it was winding down the cliff side and we could here the thunderous roar of the river and the falls as the water rushed through. Finally we were at the lookout and we now saw the falls and river from the left bank and although at first the view would seem the same, it was certainly from a better vantage point. The climb up the cliff side with its hairpin bends was less strenuous for me than coming down and did not take much longer!
We continued our drive and stopped at a roadside cafe where other activities could be undertaken – mainly heli rides and mountain biking. We were tempted to take a helicopter ride but the skies were so grey that I am sure we would not have had our money’s worth (very Dutch!) Anyway double espresso for Gerry and a ginger slice while I had a healthier smoothie – happy berry – practically a meal in itself!! Anyway, now we had time to find out our bearings as we had read about the volcanic grounds around here!
Only a couple of kilometres down the road we make to the geothermal areas – Craters of the Moon – a geothermal walkway wandering through a weird, other-worldy, landscape featuring bubbling craters and steaming vents. This low-key geothermal attraction is run by a charitable trust and we paid a small admissions fee which goes towards the upkeep of this incredible landscape.
Apparently this geothermal area sprang to life as a result of the hydroelectric tinkering that created the power station – when underground water levels fell and pressure shifted, new steam vents and bubbling mud pools sprang up. It really is weird walking around this area – the smell of sulphur oozing out of the various holes as well as the heat you feel under your feet. This site is monitored by Volcanic Activity Centre and should there be any serious movements going on, the park would be closed off to the public!
We completed our walk around in time as at 6pm the park gates are closed for the night – at 5.30 pm a siren goes off to warn the visitors that they have only half an hour to get out of the park. It had started raining again so we drove back to the Taupo Lake centre and then onto our “villa”. It was a strange day as we started off quite late in the day so we were not really hungry and anyway we had enough groceries to fix ourselves a good and healthy Greek salad in the evening. And she had enough time to get up to date with what’s happening in the world – our TV doesn’t have CNN but Al Jezeera but in between we got the exciting news that the NZ female Prime Minister, Jacinda Arden, announced that she is pregnant and she will be the first time ever prime minister giving birth while in office since Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 1990 ………
As I was happily writing away in my blog last night – round 9.30 pm, our WIFI decided to disconnect – well of course I was quite annoyed with this – so I will be putting in a complaint this morning as even this morning, the WIFI did not come back to life till 8 am……… So as Gerry is getting breakfast ready, I’m finishing off my blog!
