Heading inland, we traversed the Desert Road near the great volcanoes at the center of the North Island. Not truly a desert, this area gets its name from the sparse vegetation and rocky outcrops. The products of a million years of alternating lava, ash, and water erosion, the landscape is different indeed.
Despite the overcast conditions, the great bulk of the volcanic cones created a nice clear patch downwind. The standing clouds were an interesting site. We parked for a bit to charge our batteries and enjoy the sun.
You can see the clouds dammed up behind the mountain.
We hope to do the Tongariro Alpine crossing in a month or so. The winter conditions make it a bit of a task, though. The track will pass to the right of this peak on the saddle between the two volcanoes.
We also visited the Tree Trunk Gorge in the area. So named because, way back when, a windy storm knocked down a bunch of trees.
East of the ranges, we passed through the carrot capital of NZ. They are very serious about their root vegetables here.
We drove up the mountain hoping to clear the cloud cover. We were foiled; not tall enough!
About half way up the mountain was a nice waterfall. Here you can see the alternating layers of liquid lava and heavy ash. Cracks in the lava sheet eventually became rivers like this one. Who knows when the next eruption will come? (Probably not long by geologic standards, but really long by human ones).
As you may have guessed from our last post, we are getting closer to NZ’s geothermal center with hot springs and volcanoes galore. There is a line of geothermal activity that stretches from Rotorua in the center of the North Island to a small active volcano off the shores. The Mangatutu Springs we enjoyed a few days back was part of that line. And, we were ready to finally head in that direction again, so we made our way to Taupo. We had visited several of the sights when we were on the North Island previously, waiting for our ferry to the South Island. So, we were just picking up the places we hadn’t been before. This line of geothermal activity is definitely interesting to observe. Around the towns of Taupo and Rotorua, the smell of sulfur is omnipresent and wisps of steam protrude from numerous holes in the ground.
The first place that I had on my list was a remote thermal park called Orakei Korako, where you take a small boat ride across a lake to a geothermally-active valley. This was a paid attraction, but as a plus, there was only one other couple in the park for most of our walk.
The warm water provided interesting algae growth and the mud had weird colors and textures.
As we were walking to the viewpoint, the Sapphire Geyser started gushing.
A beautiful moth warming up or drying off first thing in the morning.
Elephant Rock, can you see it?
Notice the natural “fountain”?
A small cave with thermal water. But what really made it special was:
The morepork/ruru (owl) resting in the upper part of the cave on some vines. Very rare to see one in the wild! They are normally better camouflaged and in a tree.
Bared trees and numerous fern trees testify that this area had recently been hazed from some destructive (possibly volcanic) force the in the recent past.
The mud pools were mesmerizing to watch.
They even had a soda fountain.
While we were talking to a Canadian couple next to our van, a tall geyser shot up across the way that wasn’t even our tour.
Later that day, we made it just in time to see the Aratiatia Rapids come to life. The river was dammed for hydroelectric power, but they let out water at scheduled times during the day so we can see what it was like before human intervention. It is quite a sight.
Before the floodgates are opened. Notice the high-water mark on the rocks.
The rocks that will create some of the rapids.
Water steadily making its way downriver after the flood gates are opened.
We relocated to see what the river looked like further downstream.
This is just a few minutes after they closed the floodgates again (only open for 15 minutes). You can see they let the water get all the way up to the high-water mark.
The sun sets on our day in Taupo over Lake Taupo, NZ’s largest lake, in which resides an ancient and massive volcano’s caldera.
I really enjoyed our visit to Taupo, as it was very different from what we had been seeing NZ. And, of course, the results of heated water are normally fascinating.
Fun Fact: From the moment I arrived in New Zealand, I felt like it had a similar vibe to Hawaii. Turns out there is a reason for this. Like Hawaii, NZ embraces its aboriginal heritage/culture. Like many Pacific islands, both Hawaii and NZ were first inhabited by sailing Polynesians, so their cultures, while different, have many similar backgrounds. Gods like Maui play big parts in both oral traditions. Apparently the Pacific Ocean, like the world, is smaller than one would think.
When you have spent a few days in the wilderness (even when van glamping like we do), it is nice to head into civilization for a bit. So, we made our way over to Napier and Hastings. On the way, we spotted the Mohaka Viaduct, the highest rail viaduct (97m) in Australasia.
We made it to Napier after lunch. Both Napier and Hastings were flattened by a deadly 1931 earthquake. The silver lining to this is that there are now lots of art-deco buildings adding quite the flair to the town. Since we entered from the north, we visited the crown jewel of the style first: the National Tobacco Company’s building.
The beauty of art-deco: both simple and elaborate at the same time. Isn’t it a beaut?
The park along Marine Parade was also very intriguing.
A floral clock! Can I get one of those?
Even some of the stores have embraced the 1930s vibe. Love that headband!
Can’t forget the manhole covers.
Not everything was art-deco. This was the side of the Museum Theatre Gallery.
The next day we tried a drive up Te Mata Peak, but as I mentioned previously, rainy season has started. Couldn’t see much through the clouds.
The clouds make the hang-gliding launch a little spooky…
Back in Hastings, we noticed that even the street lights had an art-deco flair.
Apparently this is the Spanish Mission style.
From Hastings, we ventured into Kaweka Forest Park to Mangatutu Hot Springs. The springs are channeled into 2 large tubs, where you can sit and enjoy the naturally-heated water while looking out over the beautiful Mohaka River. Sadly, 3/5 pictures that I took failed to save properly and we were too busy enjoying ourselves to get any more good pictures. It was one of those activities that you could enjoy even if it was raining.
The temperature of the water was about 97°F. You could see the steam wisping up from the water through plants.
Fun Fact: There are only 11 species of ant here in New Zealand. And, they seem to be pretty rare! In all the time we have been here, we seen maybe 3-4 occurrences of ants. It is really bizarre being in a place that has so few ants! Seems like in the US, if you drop some food on the ground, the ants will be all over it in a manner of seconds or minutes. Here, unless the birds like it, it is rarely bothered.
