Boiling Baths

Today we started our North Island drive. We were picked up at 07:15ａ in the rain at our little yellow caravan by a very friendly shuttle bus man. We were running late so it was good that he didn't mind. We were at Backpackers/Britz/Mari (all owned by same company but on the net they try to make out they are competitors) by about 08:30 which was better than we expected with the 3 pick ups on route. We signed the necessary paper work and got shown our automatic car. Now I've never driven an automatic before but I thought what the heck it can't be harder than a manual. How right I was! It's very easy. A little too easy sometimes and it's surprising how much you instinctively reach out to change gear.


After 30 mins driving around in what was probably a circle, we made our way onto State Highway 1 (SH1) and headed South towards Hamilton. We've printed off a route from NZ tourism board and it told us to stop at Hamilton for a look about. We weren't expecting much. We didn't get much. But we did have a really strong coffee at a boho cafe which was well needed.　　Strangely there seemed to be a statue of Richard O'Brian from The Rocky Horror Picture Show and instructions of how to do the timewarp in the middle of the main road.  Odd.



So off we went towards Rotorua via Cambridge and Ｔirau. We decided not to stop at Cambridge as it was only 30mins away but it looked quant enough. Tirau has giant metal structures of animals along the main road.   That's two pretty odd things in a hour.  Is it a kiwi sense of humour thing?  Charmingly Odd.

Just passed Tirau we saw on the map a turning which was a little off route for us unfortunately to "Hobbiton". This was the film set and main location for Lord of The Rings. We could see the Shire in the hills as we drove and I swear you could see little wooden doors on some of those hills...

By 13:00 we arrived at Rotorua and checked into our hostel: Crash Palace. Crap name great, chilled place. After a brief sandwich lunch that we had prepared the previous day, we started inquiring about natural spa locations. The really useful guy behind the counter told us we could go to the posh, commercial but all be it natural one across the road or drive 20 minutes out to this eco-natural one in the hills. Obvious choice really: eco-natural wins out.

We arrived at Waikite Valley Thermal Pools at 14:30 to clouds of steam coming out of the hills. It was bizarre. Like a fire or something. We entered the pool area and immediately went on the eco-trial up the river. As we approached we could see the river was steaming. The river Otamakokore is pumped by a naturally boiling hot spring Te Manaroa and the water is about 98 degrees. Couldn't really believe we were standing in front of a 98 degree river! It was incredible. We then made our way up to the source. It was quite unbelievable. A bubbling spring coming up from the depths of the earth. Here's a video　ａｎｄ some facts...




After the brilliant nature bit was done it was time to enjoy the pools. The pools were built in the 1970's by the local village via donations and volunteers. It cools the water from the river down to 37 - 42 degrees depending on which of the 6 pools you decided to be in. And it was only £6 each for the whole day. We sat and chatted in the sunshine which came out just about in time for our dip.  It was so relaxing and grand.  After 3 hours worth of boiling like a lobster, we drove back to our hostel and cooked dinner.


We are pretty relaxed after all that sun and hot water. Tonight will be an early night because tomorrow we are white water rafting from 09:00 which I'm told has a 20ft drop.  Extreme!!!