This morning I went further upstream past Huka Falls to see Aratiatia Dam and Rapids... The dam is opened three times a day in the winter, more in the summer, and is quite a sight. The area outside the dam is beautiful and quiet, and within a minute after the dam is open it is turned into a raging torrent, throwing spray as high as the bridge you stand on to view it from! It fills so high that the plants in the pools outside the dam wall are completely submerged for a time.
After shopping for a few bits of food and filling up on fuel I was on the road to get down to Wellington where I will be trying to catch the ferry tomorrow to go to the south island. I stopped on route to stretch the legs a few times and to take in the scenery. The roads here are incredible, comparable to only Scottish roads in the UK for beautiful scenery I'd say. Around every single corner is yet another breathtaking view, I kid you not! Trouble with driving these roads is that I miss driving a nice car... the Lotus and the ST would be amazing to drive here... OMG! I've started thinking that I might try and hire a nice machine from Christchurch to drive back to Auckland, rather than taking the cheaper and quicker option of flying. It would be fantastic to drive a nice car along these roads just for the simple pleasure of enjoying them... :-)
As I drove past the Tongariro National Park, I was happy to notice that once again the day I had picked for a sightseeing trip at height, had turned out to be a spectacular day for it, as today there was cloud covering the top of the mountains over that area... hopefully this luck will remain with me throughout my trip, as it has been so far! :-)
After 380km's I got into the camp site in Wellington around 6pm, rang and booked the ferry for tomorrow morning, ate, showered and went to sleep... up early tomorrow to cross to the south island!
Some pics from on the road are on facebook...
