Taupo & Napiers, NZ

After Rotorua, we drove (imagine long stretches of green mountains, green plain, green trees, and white sheep) 27 kms further down to the coolest thermal wonderland called Wai-O-Tapu. Here they had the lady Knox Geyser (which spewed up to 15-20 meters high after the park ranger threw a bar of soap in it) and some really cool thermal lakes and mineral deposits. Just check the pics and further on, Drs. Chel's cool lesson about the so-called "Champagne Pool" with its bright orange/red mineral deposits alongside its edges.

After this exciting visit, we headed towards Taupo were we visited the Craters of the Moon (another thermal reserve with only warm craters) and the Huka Falls (one of the most potent falls around). Just check the pictures to get an impression . Again, the town was small and dead but we actually wanted to come here to make NZ's best one-day hike: the Tongariro Crossing. Unfortunately, the weather gods were not on our side (c'mon people, keep up the naked dancing!) and we had to find an alternative for the weekend (which ended up being the earlier mentioned sites). Because we heard the town of Napiers (on the East Coast) should be nice we went there. There were some nice Art Deco buildings but that was about it (although Sois found a place were he could get a real "friet speciaal" and even "kroketten" so guess it wasn't all for nothing then ;-). From Napiers we arranged to do the Tongariro Crossing on Monday the 11th of December as it would be our only chance before we would take the ferry from Wellington to Picton on Wednesday. We booked a lodge as close as possible to Tongariro National Park so we could be as early 6:00 AM on the mountain. Now that was an adventure... so keep checking and you won't be disappointed!