January 31st Update

Well we have been busy exploring New Zealand the last few days and haven’t had much time to give more complete updates, but here’s a short summary.

Since the last update we have met up with Dean and Judy, took a tour down into a Glow Worm cave and saw our first stalactites and stalagmites, we watched a logging truck hit the ditch, flip over and spill its load block the highway and through all this we made it to Rotorua where there are thermal mud pits and the smell of sulphur.

The logging truck incident was the most exciting, thank heavens no one was killed and the driver escaped with minor injuries. It was a pretty surreal event we rounded the corner and the trailer and recto wheels were still spinning. The truck was on its side, driver cab on the high side. Electrical lines were on the ground and the way the truck ended up you couldn’t get to it. Fortunately there was another truck approaching from the other side and they obviously helped the driver out.

However the road we were travelling to our next location was blocked and it required us to take a 3 hr detour. We arrived into Rotorua much later than planned.
Once in Rotorua we took an extra day to see the city, walk around Sulphur Point and go out for dinner on Eat Street

Today we visited two geothermal sites.The first site was Waiotapu which had a 90 min hike through the geothermal fields, it was hot and pretty smelly. The lakes the run off created were spectacular hues of green.

The second site we visited was Orakei Korako. It was another geothermal site but this one was about the various limestone pits and the multicoloured formations. Plus it was extra hot and humid from the bubbling mud and boiling water

Tonight we are in Taupo and off to Napier tomorrow.