Napier

We left Rotorua about 8:30 to get to Wai-o-tapu in time for their geyser at 10:15. While we were waiting, we were wondering how they knew the timing so precisely and why a natural phenomenon would care about what time it was. Turns out that they throw soap down the hole, which breaks the surface tension of the cooler water on top and allows the hot water to gush to the surface - or so the interpreter said anyway. It starts out as a fountain of soap suds before it really gets going. We watched the thing gush for at least 20 minutes, and it was still going a bit when we left. Most everybody else had left by then. There was quite a crowd gathered.

We also toured the rest of the park. It was pretty interesting, with a self-guided tour of a wide variety of geothermal phenomena. As I feared, the camera didn't pick up the colours very well in the bright sunshine. Oh well.


We ate some lunch and hit the road again about 1 PM. There were other geothermal and Maori attractions along the way, but we figured we had our share and only made one short stop at a geothermal power station. Kevin would have loved it! Right out of Discovery Channel.




We only drove through Taupo. It is another resort and tourist town, much like Rotorua, with many similar attractions. We arrived in Napier about 4:30, found a place to stay, and took a long walk along the sea wall. Napier's claim to fame is its large collection of Art Deco architecture. An earthquake pretty much leveled the town in 1931. It was totally rebuilt in the style of the day. It is also a wine producing region. One disadvantage of a self-drive tour is that you can't fill up on the wine tours!

The roads have been much better since we left the coast just before Rotorua. There is still only about one foot of shoulder, but at least the driving lanes are wide enough and there are fewer and more gradual curves. Through the interior, there was a lot of forestry, with pine trees at various stages of growth, harvesting, and replanting. There was also a lot of grazing land. Again though, there weren't many sheep. Mostly cattle, and most of those were dairy cattle. As we neared the east coast, it became more mountainous again, and dry, kind of like the Okanagan or southern California. Lots of vineyards and more sheep now.

posted by Glenn on Celeste's page by mistake.