January 21st - 31st
Route
Wellington – Feilding – Ohakune – Whakapapa Village – Taupo – Huka Falls – Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland – Rotorua – Waitamo Caves – Kawhia – Gulf Harbour, Whangaparaoa Peninsula – Auckland.
Km Driven: Approximately 1500km.
Highlights
Night out in Wellington – sushi restaurant, Irish pub with live band, pool.
Tour of “The Beehive” (NZ's parliament).
Views of Mt. Ruapehu and Mt. Ngauruhoe (volcanoes) on a bright, cloudless day.
Sleeping at the base of Mt. Ruahpehu (1600m) and finding an empty, heated hut with toilets in and hot water which was open all night.
Tour up Mt. Ruapehu (volcano), turqouise crater lake on top, sledging down in snow.
Sky diving over Lake Taupo (45 seconds free falling) with views of the lake and surrounding volcanoes. The first 5 seconds were the best.
Watching the dam being opened at Aratiatia. A trickling river slowly turned, one section at a time, into gushing, white rapids.
Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland – with collapsed craters, boiling pools of mud, geysers and colourful mineral pools, it was like being on another planet.
The burgers we ate in “The Shed” in Rotorua. They were enormous.
Swimming in a lake near Rotorua.
Mineral spa pool in Rotorua. As it was in a hospital, we had the spa experience at a quarter of the price – 37 degree pool, private room, showers and towels. It did feel a little strange sitting in the waiting room full of patients though!
Going up the Sky Tower in Auckland – the southern hemisphere's highest tower.
The creativeness of keeping clean
