Rotorua to Taupo

Tripadvisor can be very funny. One person's "natural wonder of the world" can be another person's "underwhelming ripoff". I ALWAYS read the most negative reviews first. Best to be prepared. 

Rotorua is stinky but you can't really visit here without visiting a thermal park. Our research said Wai-O-Tapu was our best bet so off we went, anticipating a smelly and expensive time.

The headline attraction is a geyser that goes off at 10.15 every day. With 300 others we sat on seats staring intently at a smoking dirty white pustule which looked like something from the 'Aliens' movie franchise. 

Waiting ... waiting ...

As 10.15 approached I said to Lyn, "You'd think they'd at least have a man with a khaki shirt and a microphone telling stories", at which point such a person appeared!

It turns out that the geyser goes off every day because they make it. This fact was no surprise to us because we had already read about it from Tripadvisor's more scornful reviewers. It went off. It was moderately impressive but the heat of the day had enervated the crowd. Lyn felt that we all should have oohed and gasped out of respect for khaki man's feelings.

The rest of Wai-O-Tapu was fascinating. Holes in the ground gurgled like giant washing machines, mud bubbled inky black and coffee-pot brown, red and green fumes drifted in clouds off a multicoloured pool and one spectacular crater was filled with sulphurous yellow water. And all around the ground steamed randomly. We left impressed. Three-and-a-half stars from me. Four from Lyn.

It was time to drive south towards Taupo. On the way we stopped at Huka Falls. The Waikato River chooses this spot to squeeze itself through a narrow gorge. The beauty and power of what happens here can't really be explained. It is also free.

A couple of kilometres later we were looking down at the incredible Lake Taupo with snow-capped Mt Tongariro in the distance. Our room looks out over the lake. I realised the grey beach around the lake is largely made up of pumice. It is formed by violent volcanic eruptions. It floats. I collected some for the next time I teach the eruption of Mt Vesuvius. We went for a swim. Lyn saw ducks. Life is good.