Taupo, also happens to be on the Geothermal Highway like Rotorua, so en route we decided to visit the mud-pools.
Felt oddly soothing watching it bubble away...
...and watching
Do not be fooled by the name. this is not one of those places where your can soak yourself in - unless you prefer your look well-done. But the pools are definitely surreal. The smell of sulphur is really strong, and they are constantly bubbling and popping.
The Mud Volcanoes in Buzau, Romania are far less active, but you could go right up to the craters there.
...and watching...
Taupo also happens to have a fantastic Promenade by the lake.
Watching storm clouds gather
The walk along the promenade is a must-do, whatever the weather. We spent quite a happy evening there looking for black swans and climbing trees.
This was was almost the size of child 2 and rather blaze about all the picture-taking
We also had to visit possibly the only McDonald to have an actual plane within the play area (come on! It was a plane! IN McD!)
:)
Speaking of planes, both the Baa-Lamb and self wanted to try our hand at jumping out of one, so basically that's what we booked ourselves in for the following afternoon. Tandem skydiving. That left our morning free to explore the Huka Falls and the Aratiatia rapids.
a rainbow at Huka falls
the bridge across Huka
Fierce Huka
Huka Falls was beautiful - it was more fierce than Okere, but I did love the serenity of Okere more. We also waited to watch the release of water at the Aratiatia rapids. We somehow thought it would be more... sudden (I guess that's a side effect of watching all those disaster movies), but it was no less dramatic as the water came gushing down the narrow gorge.
The first gates open at the rapids
The moment when the second gates open
the gorge floods
beautifully filling up...
Right. Skydiving. We chose to go with Skydiving Taupo- it was a fabulous experience with began with being picked up and taken to our site in a limo. I could've done with a glass of bubbly too, to complete the experience, but I guess you need your wits about you when you're about to jump out of a plane.
limo rides for us all
taking off in the plane, looking slightly worried that the doors haven't been shut yet.
My instructor was a dread-sporting, grinning giant called Herb. He was great - he made sure I not only felt safe, but enjoyed my entire experience. I don't think I've ever felt so exhilarated in my entire life! I'd probably want to jump out of another plane at another location at some point again. I think that's probably the best way to see the place- it was that much fun.
(I could probably put in a generic picture of the view of Taupo here, but, 1. We decided to opt out of the video filming. and 2. I wasn't about to risk my camera while diving out of the plane.)
The evening's entertainment consisted of more sedate walks along the lake and an early dinner. It was time to hit the road again the following day - we were headed to the South Island by way of Auckland.
Beautiful Taupo
A Tui keeping us company during our walks
A quick note about that - if you're ever in Auckland and are craving for some good, old fashioned Indian street food, head on over to 'Jai Jalaram Food Centre'. Not only is the food yummy, The owner (his son, actually) is a fantastic, warm soul who is happy to help out - with directions, local know-how, even a bit if techie stuff thrown in for the benefit of child 1.
*Warning: The first part of the blog contains rants. You might want to skip a few paragraphs if you want to give the moaning and angry tirades a miss.
Did I mention our family doesn't quite do routine? No? If not, let me mention it right at the beginning of this posts, so you don't think of us as raving loons (well, you might think that of us anyways, and may not be far off the mark, but lets not digress). So, here was out flight plan to Auckland: NY - Charlotte- LA-Auckland. Something to do with airline booking and round trips, the baa lamb reassured me. (I was not reassured.) A total of nearly 20 hours in the air. Add the interchanges and layovers, that's about a day - if you're not counting crossing over the international date line. Throw that in, and whoa, you're in Auckland 48 hours later completely zonked out of your head. Your poor body doesn't know whether to eat, sleep or just skip it all and take the next flight back to a time zone that's more manageable. Which sounds traumatic enough. But the icing on the cake was the woeful Airline that we'd booked ourselves on. American Airlines. We encountered our first and only set of rude Americas in the form of American Airlines employees at Newark. The ticketing experience was a hoot - lady didn't know Visa norms for non- Americans and she took 25 minutes just to check the 4 of us in. (Baa lamb in particular was scrutinised for a whole 10 minutes.This, I kid you not, included unapologetic staring at face for about 7.5 of those minutes). We were in for further rude behaviour at the boarding gate. Without prior warning, we were told our bags would be checked-in - with 2 kids and a 13 hour onward journey, we needed a set of spares and pillows. On mentioning this to the airline staff, we were met with complete indifference - nay, high-handedness, when a staffer told us he'd 'had enough' and if we continued with our protests, he'd be happy to offload us and get us on another flight the following day. This, after allowing at least half the plane that boarded before us to carry on two or more pieces of luggage. American Airlines, I don't know what you call that, but in my books, that was blackmail, pure and simple.
Our misadventures with this airline don't end there. Just as luck would have it, the entertainment systems on the long-haul flight wouldn't work. Asking for alternate seats and wifi access were apparently also out of the question. And of course, wherever heard of handing over entertainment packs to kids? Not AA. Have your tried entertaining kids on a 13 hour flight with NOTHING to do? Not for the faint of heart.
For my LOTR fellowship
Auckland: We landed on a Sunday, and coming straight in from the bustle of New York, it was even more of a shock to the system to see how clean, uncluttered and quiet New Zealand was. We hardly spotted another human for miles sometimes and 3 vehicles at a signal qualified as a traffic jam. We didn't spend long in Auckland though, we drove to Rotorua the following day.
We had fun Quoting from this one :)
But our stay for the night was at a wonderful air bnb close to the shore. The room was cozy and had access to a relatively secluded cove which the kids lost no time in exploring.
A couple of white faced herons gave us company
The ducks looked on, quite amused by our antics
Child 1 and 2 delighted to have the beach all to themselves
The next morning we set off to Rotorua. En route, we stopped at the Waitamo glowworm caves. We weren't allowed to photograph the caves ourselves, but it was wonderful inside. Our guide too us on a tour of the caves, where stalactites and stalagmites had carved crazy, beautiful shapes. My favourite part of that tour was when the guide sang a song in Maori inside a section of the cave known as the cathedral. The chap was definitely talented. And then there was the boat ride- in utter darkness to see the glowworms. What a magical experience. It even drove my little one to silence!
Entrance to Waitamo Caves
...and the Exit at Waitamo. The magic in between remains...
... unphotographed. Exit, Waitamo
By lunch we were at Rotorua. Rotorua is on the thermal highway and is a fantastic place to experience the Geothermal wonders of New Zealand's North Island. Our first stop that evening? - The Polynesian Spa. Its a lovely place to relax with the family while we soak in the geothermal pools. The pools have 3 temperatures, the hottest perhaps a tad too hot for the little ones, but they could happily splash about the cooler pools which has a tiny slide and splashing area. So that's exactly what we did, until dinner.
A purple swamphen spotted at the carpark.
The public springs which are free to everyone... good for a foot soaking
The next morning we set off to see Okere Falls. A beautiful place with a very short trek to see them. We even caught sight of kayakers trying to navigate the falls.
Kayakers trying to navigate the rapids
calmer waters further downsteam
Okere falls
Kids and Arun found it quite a game to navigate to the edge. Me? I was too busy screaming at each of them.
We discovered a lovely little hideyhole.
a baby fall at Okere
The next stop, another place where we could catch sight of Rotorua from the top - via the skyline Gondola. The gondola was pretty much like any other gondola, but the ride from the top to the bottom - in the luge, now that was fun. We really would have preferred to just the luge - and the ski- lift back to the top, for another 10 gos (but good sense and budget reminders stopped us).
speed junkies L and XS luge down the slope
speed junkie M coming up the ski lift while enjoying the views
We then heard from the locals about a place called Kerosene Creek which was a bit off the beaten track. The last 2 kilometres to the creek was practically a dirt track. It's not to be attempted with a car with a dodgy suspension. Once you got to the springs though, it all seems worth it. Just be sure to grab your suit and pick a good spot to soak - and there are plenty to choose from. your own personal jacuzzi in the open.
kerosene creek
This was our spot. Had a nice little island where we could picnic once we were done
After a really good soak, we though it only fair that we ought to get a glimpse of the national bird of New Zealand, the Kiwi. We headed out to the Rainbow Springs Park. Apparently the Kiwi are notoriously shy and nocturnal. So, after meeting with a few of the locals, we decided to revisit the place after dinner to see if we could spot them.
Despite the darkness and the relative quiet, we had to wait for quite a bit for the Kiwi to make a mad dash from one shrub to another. it was all quite exciting, but Child 1 was of the opinion that all he spotted was something that looked like a football on legs. So, naturally, the kids insisted in visiting the enclosure again in the light of day. This time we finally encountered a Kiwi that wasn't as shy as the rest and was willing to come out and root in the mud in front of us (basically a Kiwi version of Child 2). The kids were in complete awe (to be honest, so were we) and we left Rainbow Springs very reluctantly for Taupo....
*Video courtesy, Arun Kumar Krishnamurthy
...But not before we caught sight of a host of birds, a bird show, some rainbow trout and some very dodgy articles at the giftshop.
