We woke up to rain the next day in Taupo.  Taupo itself is a very unimpressive town and actually everything in it is rather unimpressive after visiting White Island and the Thermal Wonderland.  It would have been better to first do Taupo and then the others for the build up but that’s not how they are positioned on the map.  We first went to Huka Falls, which would have probably been a million times better in the sun since the water was such a gorgeous color of turquoise, but it was still pretty.  Without the color, the falls would be pretty ordinary.

Huka Falls

Next we went to the Wairakei geothermal power plant lookout.  This is probably the most interesting thing in Taupo, and from the lookout you can see all of its massive pipes stretch far and wide.  Then we also went to the dam but we didn’t know when it was opened so we were there when it was closed so it was rather unimpressive, but I’m sure if we had gone there during opening times it would have been pretty spectacular.

Wairakei Geothermal Power Station

The last stop in Taupo was the Craters of the Moon which is definitely Taupo’s advertised highlight.  We saw in brochure that it used to be free to enter but now they charge $5 which I think is reasonable.  It wasn’t nearly as awe inspiring as Wai-O-Tapu or White Island but it had its charm and even though we weren’t too impressed it ended up being a rather photogenic place.

Craters of the Moon

We were done with Taupo before noon and we had planned to stay the whole day but there just wasn’t enough to do.  We decided to drive south since the Tongariro crossing was planned for the next day and that was south and there was another thermal walk in Tokaanu, which is at the opposite end of Lake Taupo.  No one really wanted to do another thermal walk but I really liked the thermal region and we had nothing better to do.  After a bit of trouble we found it.  I loved it and thought it was way better than Craters of the Moon.  It was full of boiling pools and in the mist of the rain they looked spectacular and I couldn’t take enough pictures.

Tokannu Thermal Area

In Turangi we stopped by a café called The Mustard Seed which was adorable and had really great desserts.  It helped lighten the mood a bit from the rain but then we went to the info center across the street to ask about the Tongariro crossing, the lady said that rain was forecast for the next two days at least.  No one was set on doing the hike in the rain so we decided to go to Napier instead.

Tokannu Thermal Area

The road to Napier would have been amazing if there weren’t so many low overhanging clouds, so we didn’t get too much from that either.  As we crossed the mountains the sky cleared and the sun shown and when we reached Napier there wasn’t a trace of rain.  We stayed at the Top 10 which was great since they had trampolines, a jumping pillow, and a swimming pool.  We were set.  When we went to get dinner though the whole town was dead and only one restaurant, Singapore Restaurant, was open so we didn’t have to make too many decisions and went there for dinner.

From Auckland we drove to Rotorua where I was set on going Zorbing.Zorbing was invented in New Zealand and I had wanted to do it as soon as I heard of it.Basically you get into a giant ball, and it rolls down a hill.I had wanted to do the dry zorb out of sheer laziness of not wanting to get wet and bother with changing but they only offered the hydro-Zorb in Rotorua. In a hydro-Zorb you aren’t strapped in in any way, like for the dry one, and bounce around in the ball. The water has to be there because otherwise your skin may stick to the ball and you would most likely get injured. My boyfriend also wanted to go, but our other friends didn’t, so at least we had someone to take pictures. We had wanted to go in one zorb together but we were also advised not to since Hendrik is bigger than me and we would probably flail and fall all over each other and I would get hurt.  Also because you cannot go down the zig-zag course with 2 people, so we both went down the zig-zag course by ourselves.

As we rode up in the ratty van and I mean really ratty the seats were totally falling apart up the hill one of the other guys which was going up as well asked me if I was scared.I wasn’t scared at all.Usually I get scared before roller coasters but this didn’t seem too scary at all.Once it was my turn I had some trouble getting into the ball, but once I was in I didn’t have to do anything.As it rolled I was flailed all around to the right, left, up, down, and it was very scary.Instantly, I was disoriented and the whole way down I screamed.Even though it was over fast it was still crazy fun, and nothing like I’ve done before.

Who knew mud could be so fun!

After that activity we had lunch where we voted on which thermal park to go to and Wai-O-Tapu (Sacred Waters) Thermal Wonderland unanimously won.Following our GPS it directed us to a building on some empty road, which was clearly not Wai-O-Tapu, but we stopped in the parking lot anyway and then realized we had to use our own devices.Finding the park wasn’t hard at all once we turned the GPS off.We first saw the mud pools and after we got over the stench of rotting eggs, which was everywhere around Rotorua, we were completely mesmerized by them.I’d never seen boiling mud before bubbling right in front of me, and we spent a lot of time just staring at it and trying to take pictures right as a mound would burst.

Champagne Pool

The park itself had lots of spectacular sights, including the famous Champagne Pool, which is a famous landmark for New Zealand with its orange rim.Unfortunately the wind was working against us and kept blowing steam in our direction so we couldn’t get a clear photo of the pool.Other sites included the Sulfur Caves and Mounds since sufur is abundant in the areas of thermal activity, and one of my favorites, Devil’s Bath, which is a pool of water that was neon green at least when we were there.  I had never seen nature in such odd colors and formations, and it was spectacular.

Me in front of Devil’s Bath

The next day we had a tour booked for White Island but I couldn’t find accommodation in Wakatane so I booked one in Kawerau, the Kawerau Thermal Motel, which was only a half an hour away.  The hotel was on the main road but we couldn’t find it as we drove back and forth trough the tiny factory town. Our GPS kept sending us onto closed roads and into the factory where they processed wood. Kawerau is a logging town and we found ourselves on roads that only loggers were supposed to use.The GPS hadn’t navigated us well anywhere yet so it fondly received the nickname of many curse words.  Finally I spotted the motel, since the sign was overgrown and we were taken aback that this was it.It looked pretty dumpy and I was asked if I had paid for it yet, I hadn’t so we could still run.We braved the office though, and a talkative friendly man checked us in ASAP and poured us a jug of milk to take with us to our room as we stood there thinking if we really did want to stay there.

Even though it looked run down from the outside it was better inside though both could use a face lift, but it would do.  We were excited about the pool but when we saw it we were also disappointed since it seemed small and unkempt and we decided we probably wouldn’t go swimming.We went to get dinner in town but seeing only 2 take away grease fast-food places we decided to buy food in the grocery store. Even though Kawerau is the size of a Wal-Mart, they had a decent supermarket.  We bought pasta to cook in our room and when we returned to the motel the owner asked us if we wanted to go to Karaoke with him and some others.   We didn’t because we were hungry and because its Karaoke, but we thought he was very nice.I just wondered where he was going to find Karaoke in Kawerau.

After dinner we discovered that the pool was warm, and therefore, we gave it a shot and surprisingly it was lovely and we spend a few hours in it playing games and relaxing.  Minus the first impressions we ended up having a lot of fun at the motel.