This morning I woke before Tegan and explored the beach of Ohope
and the returned to the campervan for my camera and shot a series of photos for
a time lapse video of the active White Island.
It is funny the previous day when I spotted White Island out in the bay,
it was cycling around us all day. It
would seem to be in front of us and further down the road it would end up
behind us as if playing a game of tag with us.
I truly wanted to go and see the island but could not warrant the funds
associated with the cost of this trip.
The holiday park had a great looking water park but they could not get
it cleaned in time for Tegan to enjoy it.
We left Ohope headed for Rotorua, although I never was interested in
exploring here for some reason.
We
breaked for lunch near what we thought would be our first DOC campsite; but
learned upon the stopover for lunch that the “Hot Water Beach” campsite was
only accessible by boat. This
information I did not learn when in Canada.
We stopped at a beautiful little rest spot and had the
company of ducks, geese and swans including their baby cygnets; a first for
both of us. The ducks were very friendly
a sign that they had been fed often at this spot. After lunch we played with the idea of another
DOC campsite, but then eventually settled in town at a campsite that was
obviously in the heart of the thermal heartland.
Not knowing quite what to do since I was ahead of the itinerary,
we backtracked a little and then decided to do an activity. Zorb!
We paid the fee of almost $80 and got to half naked, climbed into a warm
wet ball and were thrown down a hill, propelling to greater speeds. It was great fun, however it is over in 30
secs and I didn’t get the whole debriefing at the top of the hill and
consequently didn’t manage a video.
CRAP!
The campsite wasn’t
the best in my opinion, but the hot pools were nice. The playground was situated next to a fenced
off thermal area, great planning in my opinion.
When we were driving towards this campground we drove down streets that
had steam spewing out of its drains and in some places just a crack in the
road. Safe? Obviously they have lived and developed this
area for a number of years. I just kept
on thinking of the energy that is continuously created here and it is
free.
I decided Tegan needed some more nightlife experience, so we headed to the CBD for a pint or two and to catch the game between Tonga and Japan. It was a pretty exciting game to watch, however the food at the pub was awful. I would suggest to anyone coming to New Zealand to avoid nachos unless they are highly recommended by someone. A dive bar in Canada could make better nachos.
As soon as the game was over we were back to the campground for
some sleep.
