After learning to surf (well, learning to briefly stand on a board before filling our heads with salt water) in the world-renowed left hand breaks of Raglan, we headed East on the 'thermal highway' to the sulphur stinking town of Rotorua. A great place to visit after a curry and a few too many beers - you can let off to your heart's content and no one will ever suspect you. Kristian loved it.
The thermal activity is so vigorous here that huge clouds of steam emerge from drains in the road, back gardens and public parks all around the town. Kind of spooky at night, although great for pretending to be on Top of the Pops. Our campsite even had two natural thermal pools and a walkway to the lake where you could dig a hole in the sand & watch while it filled with hot water! There was more intense pongs in store at the Waitotupo Thermal Park with steaming geyzers, bubbling mud pools and huge lakes coloured red, yellow and green by the dissolved minerals. Pretty amazing stuff.
A quick stop in Taupo to take in the views of the lake and to take advantage of a wet and wild Jet Boat ride over some huge rapids, and we were off to Napier on the East Coast. Not to be confused with Tapier which is an African mammal.
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