2nd and 3rd April!

2nd
Today we went back into the city to do a bit more site seeing.  We headed up the famous cable car to the botanic gardens of Wellington and enjoyed a nice stroll through the beautiful gardens. We also went into the very small cable car museam but it was nice to see the start of such a traditional part of Wellington.  We then headed out of the city and had a very long drive up to Lake Taupo. Unfortunately we made a very big mistake and didn't look at our map so we completely missed out Nelson which we were kicking ourselves about for hours afterwards!! We reached lake Taupo late in the afternoon and looked over the vast lake before looking for somewhere to stay. After a little discussion with Karel and Erna ( which we were so pleased we did) they advised us to stay in Waiotapu which is between Taupo and Rotaroua. We set up camp and after a long fay driving we looked to plan our next few days!

3rd
Today we woke up early and headed to the Waiotapu thermal wonderland.  Every moring at the Lady Knox geyser they put on a big of a show by artificially making it erupt. It was extremely busy and we are glad we came early but it was amazing to see the geyser erupt to almost 20meters. We then made a swift exit and headed to the main thermal park. Wai-o-tapu is Maori for scared waters and there we had a fantastic walk around all the different thermal pools and sulphurous waters. It was great! We saw amazing coloured waters and bubbling mud. After a long walk around we decided to head into Rotaroua but head straight to the Redwood forest on the outskirts. after lunch we walked a trail in the forest and it was beautiful. The Redwood trees were so so high and it was a lovely relaxing walk.

We then headed to the Skyline on the other side of Rotaroua and went to the top of Mt. Ngongotaha on the gondola and thought we would try out the Luge. It was brilliant fun!! It was a little car you sit in (very low to the ground) and you steer it around a track down to the bottom of thr mountain. We couldn't resist going a few times. After an adrenalin fuled Luge run we went to the Wine Tasting room for a more grown up entertainment. We tried 5 wines from the local winery - Volcanic Hills. It was a great experience and as it was just us we had so much information about the wines and the different grapes used for each wine. Although we couldn't buy any to bring home with us we will just have to try and remember what we have learned for when we are out shopping! We then headed to another campsite just outside Rotaroua and plan to relax in the thermal pools tomorrow (and also grab a shower) before heading towards Hot Water Beach!

Lots of Love
Katrien and Rob xxx