Rainy North Island

Sunday, today, had an excellent breakfast prepared by Murray (Kate says he turns into Maurice the Chef in the mornings). He & Bob talked ‘airline’ for awhile & then we were off to see the geysers.







We drove to Waiotapu Thermal Wonderland & arrived in time to see the Lady Knox Geyser perform. She spouts reliably at 10:15 a.m. & it lasts for about an hour. Sure enough, we got there around 11:00 a.m. & she was going. Really cool! We took the hour and a half walk through the geothermal exhibitions (in just over 2 hours). Saw among others, the Champagne Pool, New Zealand’s largest bubbling pool (like champagne) & the incredibly vivid lime green Devil’s Bath.















The more vivid the green, the higher arsenic content in the Devil’s Bath - interesting.
After we had our fill of geysers (& smelling the sulfur) we drove to Lake Taupo. Turned off to see Huka Falls & walked another ½ hour or so to the bottom of the falls. It was really worth the walk & gorgeous to see. Vivid blue green water with white foam. The falls rushing over the top with a 79 foot drop. Impressive!








Rain has finally caught up with us. Not raining hard, just consistent light mist. Too early for dinner, too late for lunch (we’ve found most places have a closing time that is approximately when we’d like to eat!, where is Luby’s when you need it), we are back at the lodge wishing for pizza delivery. No such luck I’m afraid so will head to Rotorua in a bit & figure out what to do for dinner.








A rude awakening here as our hosts do not have wireless internet available (the horrors….no internet at our 24 hour disposal). We used their computer yesterday to quickly scan e-mails but hate to have to ask them too often. Hearing from us may be sporadic until we get to Auckland. Will try to catch up there before Fiji where I don’t think we will have much available.