Sunrise at Tongariro
Brad & Mount Doom
70 degrees celcius!
Devil's Bath (the green colour in the crater is from the combination of minerals)
Lady Knox Geyser
Fly fishing lessons near Lake Rotorua
Going into Waitomo caves
Glowworm websThe middle of the north island is a geothermal mecca. It's got several volcanoes and some major geothermal hot spots. The geothermal activity in Rotorua is at the surface in much of the town- which means every hotel has natural thermal hot pools! We visited two geothermal parks and took fly fishing lessons.
The best golf course in New Zealand is located in Taupo-and although we did go golfing, it wasn't there (because much to Brad's dismay it was under repair for the whole week of our trip!) Taupo is a base for hiking the Tongariro Crossing- a day walk which traverses between the volcanoes Mount Tongariro and Mount Nguaruhoe (which is actually a vent of Mt Tongariro- and is also known as Mount Doom- in the Lord of the Rings). Many of the scenes in the Lord of the Rings trilogy were filmed in Tongariro National park. None of the volcanoes are very active at the moment (although Mt Ruapehu- also part of Taupo's volcano zone- is one of the most active volcanoes in the world and erupted in 1996 and 2007- and it has a ski field on it!) We did a 3 day hike through the park (one of New Zealand's great walks- the Tongariro Northern Circuit, which includes the Crossing) and although the weather wasn't the best for a couple of the days, the hike was quite spectacular.
After that we headed to Waitomo caves and went "black water rafting" (actually it's more like floating). The caves are full of glow worms, and are very long with rivers running through them. Waitomo means "water passing through a hole" in Maori.
Cath:These are wonderful pics. What a great time you had. I remember parts of the Waitomo caves when I was on the North Island many years ago.The geysers are so interesting as well.
ReplyDeleteTalk soon Cath
Those glow worm caves look way better than the ones in Te ANau. Nice pics.
ReplyDeleteYes the Waitomo caves are one of the top 15 must-sees in New Zealand, and they are only a couple hours from Auckland. They are neat, but I must admit, I was more impressed with the geothermal stuff in Rotorua and the volcanoes in Tongariro national park.
ReplyDeleteThey're better than the ones in Te Anau, but cost almost twice as much to see!
ReplyDeleteLooks like you had a great holiday! The pic with you two and your tire tubes is so cute. Great photo to put on the wall!
ReplyDeleteLove and hugs!
That slide looks like alot of fun! Amazing experience :)
ReplyDeleteIt was a good holiday! (The slide was FAST!)
ReplyDeleteHi Lovey
ReplyDeleteI guess I have to go back to New Zealand!!! See the North Island Again!!!!!(Saw it in 1975)
Those Waitomo caves look and are great!!!!---I do remember them being quite spectacular---the geaothermal stuff in Rotorua---I know I would enjoy it so much with a geotechnical Engineer by my side!!!!