Wellington to Taupo, North Island

Wellington:  Wellington is New Zealand’s capital city.  With a population of just 427,000 (compared to London’s 9 million!), it is nicely compact and easy to get around.  The parliament buildings are known as The Beehive, with good reason.  The harbourfront is full of atmosphere with many shops and cafes.  A tiny red cable car chugs up the hill to the Botanical Gardens and some wonderful views over the city.  A leisurely walk twists and turns, through various themed gardens,  back down to town.  Of course for me, the rose gardens were the best!

A rainy afternoon was a perfect time to visit the Te Papa National Museum.  Inspirational displays led us through New Zealand’s history, including a very moving exhibit on the battles at Gallipoli.  Stories from young refugees gave wonderful accounts of how New Zealand’s population has developed over the years.  One of the ‘fun’ aspects was standing in a small wooden house, experiencing an earthquake.  For those of us lucky enough to live away from major faults in the earth’s surface, this gave real insight into just how terrifying this phenomenon can be! 

Napier:  A full days driving took us north and east up the rugged east coast, passing through deep river valleys, and a couple of amazing mountain passes.  Lots of sheep and dairy farming intermingled with the odd vineyard, and always with a range of mountains in the distance. 

Napier is world renowned for its Art Deco (1930’s) style architecture.  Allow me to fill you in  . . . . .In 1931 Napier was all but flattened by a huge earthquake, heaving the lagoon two metres higher than it was before and making Napier 40 square kilometres bigger than it was previously.  Few of the central buildings survived.  A huge rebuilding project was quickly established, influenced by the architectural styles of the day.  These 1930’s streetscapes are protected today by the Art Deco trust.  We enjoyed a guided tour with a lovely 80+ year old lady,  who championed everything Art Deco with great aplomb!

With a population of 67,000, it’s a vibrant city.  Many streets of thriving shops and restaurants, along with a wonderful seafront walk stretching for miles (good for my morning run!) and wall-to-wall sunshine!  What more could we ask for . . . . .

Taupo:  From Napier, we headed inland across the wide Esk Valley and through another range of mountains – yes, another winding mountain pass! – before enjoying the plantation covered flat plains which lead to Taupo.  The enormous lake here, the largest volcanic caldera in North Island, provides for the usual array of water sports whilst the surrounding geothermal fields are known for their hot springs and geysers. 

We took another nail-biting Jet Boat ride along the Waikato River (the longest river in NZ) to the foot of the Huka Falls, where about 120 cubic metres of water per second (yes! you read that correctly) were cascading over the rocks. 

Adding the tremendous force of water to the numerous 360 degree spins the boat did gave us enough adrenaline surge to last the rest of our holiday!!

The Orakei Korako Taupo Thermal Area, proved to be just as exciting but in a much quieter way . . . a tiny ferry took us across the lake to some of the largest silica terraces in the world.  There are 23 active geysers in this area – none of which performed for us today – but there was plenty of steam and bubbling going on in the numerous craters.  This enormous terrace varies in thickness from just 20 mm to 20 metres in places.  What’s more, it continues for another 35 metres under the lake!

 

Nearly 20 million litres of hot water per day trickles across the terrace and into the lake.  I’ll leave you all to imagine the smell – rotten eggs anyone??   Unbelievable colours (orange, green, brown, pink) are formed by the algae growing in hot water with temperatures up to 60 degrees.

Mud pools have formed in places where the thermal fluids have chemically decomposed surface rocks to form clay.  Underground energy heats the clay and boiling mud pools are created.  The shop sold all sorts of beauty creams containing the mud, purporting to have marvellous results.    Having witnessed the repulsive bubbling mud, I’m afraid the shop didn’t get any business from me! 

See you again in a few days time . . . .