Many varieties of trout are raised here in pools and streams and are so plentiful you could probably catch one with your hands. Fishing is not allowed and since I'm not into fishing I didn't care, but I think anyone who fishes would be in agony. Trails wind all through the property and they were the most meticulously maintained trails I've ever seen, absolutely perfect, with all sorts of garden plants. They even had a lion cub which you could pet! After that it was time for lunch so we took a gondola ride to the top of a mountain and ate lunch at the summit restaurant. There was a wheeled luge ride from the summit to the bottom which in better weather would have been really neat to do but it started raining pretty steadily while we were there so we took the gondola back down.
We next visited the Whakarewarewa Thermals located on the edge of town. A Maori guide discussed Maori architecture, demonstrated the art of grass skirt making, and led us on a tour of the mud pools and geysers. There are 5 remaining active geysers and their eruptions are unpredictable, but the largest geyser, Prince of Wales, erupted just as we were walking past it and drenched us with warm water. Fortunately we were wearing our rain gear so we didn't mind but others on the tour weren't as well prepared. (Oh yes, Whaka is on every tour bus itinerary also.)
We next visited the 'buried village' at Mt Tarawera. At one time the premier New Zealand tourist attraction for its pink and white silica terraces, in the 1880's the site was destroyed in a massive volcanic explosion. Like Pompeii, the town was buried under tons of volcanic ash and mud, and parts of it have been excavated. As interesting as the excavated artifacts were, the highlight was a walk through the woods to some very nice waterfalls. Once again we were completely alone with no sounds other than those of nature - very refreshing after the crowds at Whaka!
After that we spent half an hour in a hot tub and ate at a restaurant called Gazebo, which had great food at reasonable prices. (I wanted to leave a tip even though it's not the New Zealand custom but it turned out I was unable to, as the credit card slip had been 'totaled out' and I didn't have cash. I initially felt very strange walking out of restaurants and not leaving tips but after awhile I got used to it. Too bad we don't have the same custom in the U.S.!)
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Sunday, Oct 31: Rotorua to Napier
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McDonald's restaurants seem to be as common in New Zealand as in the U.S; the major difference is that they are much cleaner and the servers are a lot friendlier. (In fact, our experience was that Kiwis must be the friendliest people on earth.) We had breakfast at one in Rotorua, then headed south to Napier.
On the way we visited another another geologically active area, the Waiotapu Thermals. I was expecting these to be similar to the Whaka thermals but I was wrong, they were vastly superior. For one thing, there were no tour groups (at least not when we were there). The area was also much larger; Whaka took 40 minutes to see, Waiotapu took well over an hour. Whaka had one lethargically active mud pool, Waiotapu had several active mud pools, and one very large (at least half an acre), very active mud pool; while we were there we saw what amounted to a mini mud geyser, with mud flying up about 5 feet. There were many more fumaroles, multi-colored ponds and lakes, hot and cold streams, and the largest silica terrace in the southern hemisphere (the Tarawera terraces were the biggest in the world prior to their destruction). The capper was the 'Lady Knox' geyser; it's a real geyser but the opening has been built up to channel the flow and the geyser can be forced to erupt by dumping soap down the hole, which is done every morning at 9:15. The water underground is under pressure and super-heated yet trapped by its surface tension; the soap breaks the surface tension, which causes the water to boil violently; the geyser reaches a height of about 60 feet.
After that we drove through Taupo, which has New Zealand's largest lake, then on to Napier. This required us to drive over a mountain range, and the road had quite a few sharp turns. We were cautioned in Auckland about the road to Napier but it was no problem. Midway through we stopped at a trucker's cafe (trucks are trucks in New Zealand, not lorries as in the UK). The cafe walls were filled with pictures of every kind of truck and trailer, especially 'loggers' (lumber is a major industry in New Zealand, yet they log intelligently. There were far more newly-planted forests than clear-cut areas).
Napier is known for its vineyards, so we stopped just outside of town to pick up a couple of bottles from the Crab Farm winery. (The bottle label tells the story of how the vineyard got its name. In the late 1800's 30 acres of what is now the vineyard was deeded to someone as payment for a debt. Unbeknownst to the receiver, the area was mostly swampland with lots of crabs, and the family jokingly referred to it as the 'crab farm'. Then in 1931 a massive earthquake destroyed the town of Napier but raised the 30 acres to well above sea-level. Despite the weird name the wine was quite good.)
Our hotel was the Tennyson Motor Inn, on Tennyson Street (many Napier streets are named after poets; there's even a Browning Street). Once again the room was fine but located on a street with heavy traffic, and the building had an unattractive warehouse-like facade.
After we checked into the hotel we wandered down to the Marine Parade road which parallels the shoreline and visited a museum which featured a video on the 1931 earthquake. Napier is unique in New Zealand because it is most well known for its architecture; after the quake it was rebuilt almost entirely in the art deco style which was popular at the time.
A bit farther down the shoreline road was a Marineland with dolphins, seals, etc. It was 4PM so the last show had ended but on the outside was a sign, 'Swim with the Dolphins, 4-5PM'. I immediately went inside to see if it was for real, and it was; we donned wetsuits, fins, masks, and snorkels, and swam with 4 dolphins for an hour in the main show tank! They would swim within inches of you and you could hear their whistling but they wouldn't let you get close enough to touch them. However, after we changed into street clothes we got to feed and touch them. I figured their skin would feel like a slick, wet, fully-inflated inner tube, and that's exactly what it felt like.
Afterward we walked through the gardens along the shoreline and consumed one of the Crab Farm bottles at a BYO restaurant. These are mainly restaurants which are not licensed to serve alcohol so you can bring you own bottle of wine; you hand it to the maitre'd when you arrive and they bring it to you uncorked after you order.
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Monday, Nov 1: Napier to Nelson
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Napier is supposed to be one of the sunniest places in New Zealand. Ironically, a cold front from the south was passing through and we woke up to overcast skies and drizzle. This was our travel day to the south island so we didn't really mind. We left Napier at 8AM and arrived in Wellington at 1PM. We were booked on a 4PM ferry to Picton so we parked in the city and took a cable car to the Botanic Gardens and wandered around a bit. Wellington is reported to be the windiest city in the world and it lived up to its reputation.
I'm used to the ferries that shuttle between Hyannis and Nantucket, Mass. The Wellington to Picton ferry is much larger, accommodating railroad cars with no problem. The trip itself was fairly uneventful; swells were about 6 feet and the ferry pitched quite a bit at times, enough to make some passengers seasick. Docking was a bit more exciting; the ferry came in at an extreme angle for some reason and splintered several dock pilings. My suspicions that this was not standard procedure were confirmed by the rental car agent, who commented on it.
We were supposed to have the same make and model rental car on this island as we had in the north, but the car they were going to give us had a dent in it so they offered to upgrade us to a 4WD manual shift Suzuki Vitara (similar to an Isuzu Trooper) at no extra charge. I didn't care about the dent but decided to go for the Suzuki since it was something different, I like manual transmissions, it sat up high, and might even find the 4WD handy for roads like the infamous Crown Range, which I had been looking forward to. Of course, when the time came to sign the agreement I was explicitly told that the insurance company did not cover travelling the Crown Range! I was initially disappointed but in the end it turned out to be a good thing.
This was to be our first real experience driving at night here, and indeed it was an experience. There is a mountain range between Picton and Nelson, and the road is a series of hairpin turns for miles. However, we made it in the 2 hours we were told it would take.
We had no idea where our hotel street was located so I stopped at a petrol station to ask directions. It turned out to be easy to find but the people here are so friendly and helpful that the woman who helped me spent about 15 minutes explaining how to get to it, which confused me even more. We finally arrived at about 10:30PM and checked into the Arthur Wakefield Motor Inn. Kathy didn't care for the room decor but I thought it was the best place we stayed in to date; quiet, and with reliable water temperature and pressure.
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Tuesday, Nov 2: Nelson to Greymouth
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The cold front passed and the day was sunny, with temperatures around 60. Nelson is located near the Abel Tasman Park, which is supposed to be very beautiful, but we didn't have time as this was to be mainly another travel day. However, we did wander around town a bit before we left, and stopped in the Nelson cathedral. The original plan was to build a cathedral which would have put it in the same class as Notre Dame. They got about a third of it done and realized there was no way they would ever complete it, so they redesigned it to be about half the size of the original. The result, in my opinion, is the ugliest cathedral I've ever seen.
Kathy read about a Nelson weaving shop in one of the travel guides and she wanted to take a look, but there was a note on the door saying the shop would open at 10:30 and it was already 10:45. We waited 15 minutes and then left but just as we got to the edge of town I asked her if she wanted to return. She said yes, and fortunately someone was there when we arrived (not the person who was supposed to be there, this was another employee who just happened by and noticed the store was closed and so opened it).
On the road to Greymouth we saw a sign for the 'longest suspension footbridge in New Zealand' so we stopped and crossed it. The bridge spanned a gorge with a fast-running river about 70 feet below. On the other side was a booth with 2 people doing some construction work. I also noticed that there was a cable spanning the gorge with a pulley and harness at the booth end. |
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