I'm just going to briefly go over what I've done on the North Island since the Hot Water Pools.
From Hahei we headed to Raglan for the second night of the tour and then Maketu [spkn: Mak-e-tu] for the third. At Maketu we were treated to an excellent cultural evening. A local family performed some traditional dances for us and then taught the lads the Haka and girls the Poi.
The following night I hopped off the bus and spent the night in nearby Roturua. Roturua is situated on a a bed of geothermal activity and smells very badly of sulphur. Before getting back on the bus I walked around Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland where I saw Lady Knox Geyser erupting [pictured] and an array of heated water pools of varying colours and smells plus boiling mud pools. All very different to anything you'll find in Oz or back home.
After being driven to Taupo I spent the afternoon relaxing and the next day I completed a couple of easy, short walks around a Tongariro National Park.
From Tongariro National Park the bus headed to Wellington, the nation's capital and a much nicer city than Auckland. I had intended to spend part of my birthday doing a Lord of the Rings tour, but it wasn't running that day so I did that the day before. Satisfying my inner geek, the tour was interesting - for me anyhow - and from both the tour and my views of just the North Island's landscape it is easy to see why LOTR was filmed in NZ.
Next Stop: The South Island
From Hahei we headed to Raglan for the second night of the tour and then Maketu [spkn: Mak-e-tu] for the third. At Maketu we were treated to an excellent cultural evening. A local family performed some traditional dances for us and then taught the lads the Haka and girls the Poi.
The following night I hopped off the bus and spent the night in nearby Roturua. Roturua is situated on a a bed of geothermal activity and smells very badly of sulphur. Before getting back on the bus I walked around Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland where I saw Lady Knox Geyser erupting [pictured] and an array of heated water pools of varying colours and smells plus boiling mud pools. All very different to anything you'll find in Oz or back home.
After being driven to Taupo I spent the afternoon relaxing and the next day I completed a couple of easy, short walks around a Tongariro National Park.
From Tongariro National Park the bus headed to Wellington, the nation's capital and a much nicer city than Auckland. I had intended to spend part of my birthday doing a Lord of the Rings tour, but it wasn't running that day so I did that the day before. Satisfying my inner geek, the tour was interesting - for me anyhow - and from both the tour and my views of just the North Island's landscape it is easy to see why LOTR was filmed in NZ.
Next Stop: The South Island
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