Coddiwomple Stardate 180124

Our third day in Paihia being Friday we were going to walk to Haruru Falls about a 3-hour return trip. With the previous days hot walking venture decided to go a cooler way and hired a double kayak to take us up the Waitangi River. I had to sit in the front of the kayak because Sharon thought I wouldn’t paddle like last time, this way she could keep an eye on me. Also, I’m useless at steering according to Sharon. So, with Sharon in the rear of the kayak steering, we zig zagged our way up the river (Smart Arse). It took 45mins to reach Haruru Falls and we took the kayak up nice and close for a photo opportunity. We beached the kayak in the mud flats and went for a swim up to the falls. ¾ of the way there we realised we weren’t moving forward because of the current. We poured on the power and closer we got. On the way back took our time to just drift past in the kayak looking at some Shag nests up in the trees that had little chicks poking out their heads.

Saturday night we were back in Auckland using Stray again. The driver was called Hunter a very knowledgeable 23-year-old on Maori culture. We stayed at Base backpackers in our own private room on the 9^th floor with views down Queen Street.

Sunday, we had a ten-minute walk to catch an InterCity bus to take us back to Rotorua and we stayed at The Backyard Inn. It was located just on the other side of Kuirau Park where there is a lot of geothermal activity. The pool at the accommodation was heated geochemically. We got there early and couldn’t check into our room. To fill in time we spent and hour at the Fancy Meow Cat Café which surprisingly was rather pleasant. I needed a beer after all this stress with pussy cats and went to the Pig and Whistle a converted police station turned into a pub. Came across an interesting fact, Captain Cook was the first person to brew beer in New Zealand. It was January 1778 in Queen Charlotte Sound using local ingredients to combat scurvy apparently it worked. Another reason to drink beer.

Monday was wet and we had planned to hire a couple of bikes for the day. Change of plans and went on there local bus to The Redwood’s. By the late 1800’s New Zealand was already running out of native timber. With such a slow growth rate for native timbers they started to look around the world for faster growing species. They have finally settled on Pinus Radiata which I found out has been genetically modified in New Zealand in the 1950’s to improve production. The Redwoods are a forest of Californian Redwoods. They were planted in 1901 and have reached a height of 55m. Ones in California are up to 100m high. They are used for timber production but also a multi-use recreation area. They have a treetop walk which I must admit is the best I have ever seen and the longest. There is also a night walk which we are doing when we get back to Rotorua. There are walk tracks everywhere and I chose one that would wind its way back to our bus stop. It was still wet and very humid, but it was a fabulous walk.

Tuesday was wet again. We went on another Stray Bus this time to Whanarua Bay. Our driver was called Bobby. Apparently, he bobs his head when he is writing down things and looks like one of the bobbing toys. Also had Hunter on the bus with us for a training run. We stopped on the way for kodak moments and to check out the historical site of Tauhwhare Pā. A Pā is an old Maori fortress and village built on high ground, so they could defend themselves against attacks from other tribes. When the British arrived in the early 1800’s they dug themselves in trenches to defend themselves against musket attack. Trench warfare was created by the Maori people. We also stopped to fill up our water bottles from a tap that is fed by a natural spring. Your bottled water is meant to be natural spring water but always has a taste to it. Also filtered water there is always a taste there. This water has no taste at all.

We stayed at Maraehako Bay Retreat. Sharon and I had our own room which was 20m from the water overlooking Whanarua Bay. We are still being pleasantly surprised with places we see and stay.

Late start on Wednesday it was 9.00am before we headed off towards East Cape Lighthouse. A Few photo stops before heading up the 800 steps to the lighthouse. We had to go past a field of horses to get there it made Sharon’s day. We stayed at Tatapouri Lodge just over the road from the ocean. Sharon is in her element. We were on a small bus with 20 people, there is 16 females in the group average age of 21. They all called her mum.

Well its my turn to add more than just something in brackets to this blog..yes its Sharon, ta da!!

I spent an evening playing Uno and laughing with 9 other travellers and answering questions about their up and coming trip on Stray. 

We woke up early for the sunrise which wasn’t as spectacular as I was hoping. There was promise of colour around the clouds.  But none the less it was a pretty spot.  We had breakfast while the majority went back to bed. 

At 10.20, 8 of us headed back to the beach to feed and interact with wild Stingrays. Once paid and dressed up in our uber sexy wader boot thingy’s we listened to our guide about the types of Stingrays and what NOT to do!! (only touch the head and top of the body not the tail or barb) (Self-explanatory really) We stayed in our line and shuffled onto the reef. Tide was still a bit high so the bamboo poles we where holding onto helped steady us with the waves.  We had 6 Stingrays come around us, they really are like puppies!!  Love to be patted. Especially when you feed them.  It’s a weird feeling to have food sucked off your hands… One of the Stingrays was quite heavily pregnant too. It was an amazing experience and one I won’t forget. Then it was back to a wet Rotorua.

Friday, we picked up our rental car from RaD Car Hire (rent a dent). Expecting a worse car than the one we had in Wellington because it was only $56 nzd a day including full comprehensive insurance. It was a lovely maintained Mitsubishi Colt with 130,000km less on the odometer than the Corolla in Wellington and the Colt was in pristine condition.

We filled in the day by driving out to Waimangu Volcanic Valley. The area was created on the night of 10^th June 1886. There was no activity prior to this date, then on that night there was a line of craters created by the violent eruption. The event destroyed all plant, animal and bird life in the area. All the vegetation you now see has been naturally re-colonised. The walk was 2.6km and you pass a lot of geothermal activity, hot springs and lakes ending at Lake Rotomahana. Then we jumped on the courtesy bus to take us back to the visitor’s centre. Then it was onto the mud pools at Wai-O-Tapu. We had stopped here before with the Stray Bus, but it was a 2-minute visit and it was raining. Sharon didn’t even get of the bus to look. This time it wasn’t raining and spent a while here mesmerised by the exploding mud. Then it was back to Rotorua via a random choice of roads and came across some great valley vistas.

We had the car for that night and decided we would go to the Redwood’s Treewalk. We arrived at 8.15pm when it was still light. We only had to pay $10 per person because we still had our receipt from a few days ago. There is no time limit for being on the treewalk and decided to go on the walk before it got dark. We would just slowly go around until darkness was upon us. It was a great choice. You had a mix of the light show and you could still see the forest. This way you could still take photos. Once it was dark all you could see is the lighting which was a magical experience.

Saturday, we had the car until 5.00pm and decided to go see the Hamurana Springs. With an $18 entrance fee each I hesitated at entering. The women attendant had to sell me the place before I would enter. It was worth the money. The area has another Redwood grove and is fed by natural spring water. The water rises from underground and can fill 2 x Olympic pools per hour. Water birds are abundant here feeding in the very clear water. We also filled up our water bottles from the minor spring once again absolutely pure water.

We then made our way to Okere Falls. These falls are fed from Lake Rotoiti and are used by Kayakers and rafters and another great place to be mesmerised by the amount of water flowing. We made our way from there to the Blue Lake and Green Lake. There is a lookout between the two lakes and there is definitely a blue and a green lake. Had our lunch at Lake Tarawera then decided to take the car back a little early we had run out of things to see. It is convenient to have a car, but it is also great not to be burdened by one.

This will be our last blogg for a while. We have been in New Zealand now over 2 months. We feel we have seen everything we want to. We will be doing some volunteer work at Snowy Waters Lodge then Stuart Island until we leave for Melbourne at the beginning of April. Unless we manage to do the Tongariro Crossing on our third attempt there won’t be much to write about.