Rotorua and its volcanic activity

Tuesday 5th and Wednesday 6th December
We left our friends on Tuesday morning. Wayne went to work and Jan dropped us at the bus stop before starting to work as well.
We had decided to stop one night in Rotorua and enjoy some of the most popular touristic sites of New-Zealand.

I won't tell much about the visits, you'll see some more pictures down here. Just something about the geysers. Without kidding, waiting for a geyser to erupt for one hour, and seeing that it happens, the power of the water, the sound of the eruption, the sight of the water high in the airs... It has the same effect on me than a beautiful end in a movie : I started crying. It was so beautiful...
On Wednesday, after visiting Wai-o-tapu, we took our bus back to Hamilton. From there, we still had 14km to hike before reaching our destination of the day, Whatawhata. We arrived just after the sunset. It was a pleasant walk through the farmlands.


The mountain at the back is Pirongia, we'll be there in a few days

At the pub where we pitched our tent, there were already 5 young Americans, that had just finished their 1st day of hike. It as refreshing to see them and they were really friendly and welcoming. Hope to see them again later on the trail!





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

5 months and 4 days later... reaching Bluff

Image
 We had a relaxing day in Otautau. We decided not to hike in Longwood forest : Marie-Laure had heard that it was muddy and she has bad memories of muddy forests.  Historical building in Otautau We start the day with a hitchhiking session. It takes us 2 hours to have our first ride. We will get the second one quite fast and the 3rd one will never come. We hike the last 6 kilometres on the road and we reach Riverton. We leave our backpack at the backpackers hostel. We know that we might not find a car that would take us to Colac Bay, so we decide to walk in direction of Colac Bay directly from here. It's a beautiful sunny day and we reach the seaside in no time. We are happy to see the sea again. The coastline is scenic and we enjoy the walk without backpacks. When we come back in Riverton in the afternoon, Jenny and the 3 American girls are there as well and we spend our evening together. The backpacker is pretty much empty, there is nobody except us and another girl
Read more

Exploded!

Image
Friday 23rd March. While Marie-Laure buy a few supplies for our next days of tramping, I bring the car back to the car rental agency. The sun is rising. I have to walk 30 minutes to go back to the campsite. The tops of the mountains are covered by the snow that fell down yesterday and during the night, but the sky is blue and soon, the sun appears.  We booked a shuttle that will bring us to the trailhead of Greenstone track. From there, we follow an easy trail that leads us to Greenstone hut. It's a pretty popular place, close to Routeburn track. As a result, when we reach the hut, it's more than full. The 20 bunks are occupied and 3 tents are already pitched outside. Our friend Jenny is here as well and she's got a bed because she arrived a lot earlier than us. I don't like when the huts are as full as this one. That's too many people and I don't even want to interact in that kind of situation. Hopefully, tomorrow will be better, cause it's a le
Read more

In the bush, without George

Image
The 12th of November 2017 Another day off at Haruru Falls. We decided to hike to Paihia, through the mangrove, just to see how Marie-Laure's ankle is doing. It's an easy day with 7 km only, between the forests and the see.  We also board on a boat to see dolphins. We are feeling like children as we look at them, so excited at the sight of these dolphins playing so close to our boat. We still have some time to visit the small town of Russell , full of history. There, we go to the small supermarket, and we meet Sheryl. She works there, and immediately asks us if we are Te Araroa hikers. She's a trail angel (people taking care of the hikers) and she invites us to camp at her house tomorrow, in Waikare. Great! It's also our second and last day at Kristel's family place. It was such a great chance to meet them. One of the best experiences that a long trail offers  is probably the occasions it offers to meet the people. The 13th of November 2017 Kristel
Read more