Best
breakfast ever. As my father promised, we got an enormous and stunningly
elegant breakfast with muesli, fruit, yoghurt, banana pancakes, bacon, nice
fruit juice and tea. We had breakfast with a view of Lake Taupo that was not
unlike the view of Lake Constance from our home.
Unfortunately.....the
internet connection was so good as it hasn’t been the last few days, so I
decided to update my apps, and didn’t store my phone in the bag at first. After
some minutes we wondered what had bumped on our car roof and realized that I
put my phone again onto the roof of
our car, for no reason, and it fell on the street at 50 kph. Its front screen
was completely broken; you could even see the hardware beneath... But the
system still worked - lucky me.
We did a
short stop at the Lake Taupo shore (the mood wasn’t too good, of course) which
was very beautiful, with black swans swimming. The next bigger stop was the
Waka waterfalls which actually was only one, but very turquoise and huge and
fast-flowing. We came at a good moment too watch a jet boat riding through the
rapids below the waterfall.
Even more
impressive were the thermal areas we then went to. We went to a place called Waimangu
(wai means water, and simply every village around here begins with wai). We
drove to the parking lot and were recommended to hike down and drive up.
Actually, I have walked this hike already, thirteen years ago, with my little
sister in the stroller. How I miss them, and how I wish for them to relive all
this again, too. From the hiking trails different hot lakes could be seen,
which were brown or turquoise. The brown one changes its color up to emerald
green, depending on wind and temperature. The turquoise one changes its water
level for about eight meters every five to seven weeks. But the most impressive
lake was probably the “frying pan lake”. You could see the different wind
streams due to lots of steam on the water surface, it looked like magic! In
some corners the water was boiling, or spreading out of geysers.
The "Frying Pan" lake
Talking
about geysers, we learned that four tourists were killed when a really huge
geyser exploded that was active for three or four years around 1905, as an aftermath
to the big eruption of Mount Tarawera in 1897 which buried the world-famous sinter
terraces and some Maori villages under 20 meters of mud and changed the shape
of Lake Tarawera. The geyser was the biggest on earth, unbelievably powerful.
Because we
are real Swiss (please notice the ironical meaning) we made an extra hike over
a mountain top through a jungle that looks like in the dinosaur ages: lots of
fern trees. This was really sweaty and we were happy having had some things
left from our breakfast yesterday. Shortly before we reached the final bus stop
at the big lake, we had a look at the small sinter terraces that are left. They
are created by hot water carrying the chalk which cools down on its way and
leaves the chalk behind while dropping down the river, mostly in white,
sometimes rose or orange.
At the lake
I was filled with delight because of hundreds of frogs quaking. The driver who
brought us back to the top started a small conversation with my dad. I really
like how open the people are, here and there.
Our second
stop was Waikite thermal valley where we stopped at a camp site – but not for
camping. Here you can swim and soak in thermal hot pools which are fed by a
boiling creek. You can hardly see the creek itself, because the whole area is
filled with steam! Great picture opportunity.
Later we
arrived in Rotorua, where we ate our supermarket dinner in front of a wooden
building which was erected as a bathing building at the end of the 19th
century. I also discovered a tiny tree of which I learned that it was planted
in 1997 to celebrate the 10-year jubilee of the partnership between Rotorua and
the city of......Beppu, Japan! No wonder, when you find hot springs and
steaming vents there everywhere, too. But we had to leave soon, because we were
freeeeeezing. Our motel was not far away, at the junction of two streets in the
middle of nowhere really, and that is what gave it its name: Junction Motel :-)
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