NZ: Central North Island

I thought I would announce that this is my 365th blog entry. So, if I were writing daily, it would be a year of blogging. I started this blog mid-2005, so it has actually been 3.5 years and running. Also, I have posted a new link on the right to My NZ Travel Map, a google map where I will add locations that I go to. It's a bit rough at the moment, but I will try to clean it up when I get an unlimited Internet day pass in the next week or so.

Since leaving Auckland, I have hopped around the central north island, including: Hahei for a walk to Cathedral Cove and a dip in a natural hot water pool at the beach, Raglan for surfing, Waitomo for hiking, Maketu for a stay in a Maori maree, and Rotorura for geothermal pools.

The hot water pools at Hahei were really interesting. You basically dig a hole in the sand a few meters back from the current tide, and warm to hot water starts to fill in the hole. Dig a big enough hole et voila! You have a hot tub. The only problem is, the water was often too hot! The signs say it can get up to 64 degrees Celsius (147 Fahrenheit). I could only stand for a little while in our pool, it was really that hot. But then it’s fun to run into the ocean, cool off, and then jump back into the shallow hot pool.

The hike to Cathedral Cove, a beach cove with a large limestone formation and adjacent gap in the rocks, was beautiful. Looking out over the bright blue Pacific Ocean reminded me a bit of the water amongst the Greek Islands. Our bus (we had a pretty small group of 12) had a BBQ that night of sausages, lamb, steaks, veg and salads which was loads of fun and an easy feast by the beach!

Raglan is on the West Coast of the north island and is known for its surfing. There is a huge bay (say, 1/3 the size of Monterey Bay) where some breaks occur so far out, that professional surfers have been known to ride a wave for up to 8 minutes! Don’t worry, I was trying out the baby waves on the sandy beach with my rented board and wetsuit. I didn’t fare all that much better than my first time around but I loved the protection of the wetsuit and it was fun to give it a go.

In Maketu we stayed at a Maori maree and local Maori sang some songs, demonstrated the haka dance, and we all participated in learning either haka ot the poi dancing.

In Rotorua, I went to the Wai-o-tapu Thermal Wonderland (cheesy name). It’s a place where there are all sorts of thermal and mud pools in crazy colours because of the different mineral elements in them, such as colloidal sulphur (green), antimony (orange), sulphur (yellow), and sulphur/carbon (black). I also lay out by the pool at the hostel and generally relaxed for an afternoon where I was grateful not to be shuttled between locations.



Next stop is the “Go East” section of my Stray Travel pass on the North Island, where I will be stopping at Whakatane, Maraehako Bay and Gisborne over the next 3 days.