I took my leave of Patrick on the
Wednesday, as he was going to be leaving for a tour of Brazil
teaching SKHM before I was due to return to Matakana, and started the
drive to Rotorua. Being used to UK driving, it really surprised me
how restrictive the speed limits were, and consequently how long it
took to get anywhere. The drive was uneventful, and as at the time
of writing this, it would seem I somehow got down there without
getting any speeding tickets. The road was good quality duel
carriageway most of the way, and not very busy by my standards. As I
drove over the hills ringing Rotorua, my first glimpse of the town
and lake told me I was looking down into the biggest volcanic crater
I had ever seen. Of course Lake Taupo is much much biggger, but I
hadn't yet seen it.
Finding the backpackers hostel (Spa
Lodge) I had booked into was easy (I don't use satnav, cos I rarely
cant find my way). The welcome and service at the hostel was
impressive, and soon I was walking around town exploring what was
what. One of the nice things about checking in was they had upgraded
me from a single to double bedded room. As usual, I spent time just
sitting at the waters edge watching life go by. This time there were
helicopter landing on the jetties for sightseeing trips, not
something I could afford! I wanted to tell myself that this was
mindful of the Swiss Lakes, but the feeling really wasn't there, so
then I focussed on Windermere, and the UK Lake District. Nope this
wasn't like that either, this was Rotorua and had its own feel. I
walked through a small park to get a slightly elevated view of the
lake, but my feet and knee didnt want to explore more so I wandered
back to the hostel, via the supermarket to fix dinner. I like
hostels lots more than hotels because of the camaraderie and
homeliness. I sat and talked with other 'inmates' and then went for
a soak in the spa, which was over 40 degrees so I didnt stay in long,
but it did soothe the feet and knee.
I slept well that night, and after a
convivial breakfast in the guests kitchen drove to Kuirau Park on the
outskirts of town that has a fair bit of geothermal activity. This
was a public area with no charge to wander through. I parked near a
children's playground, where a nearby kindergarten had taken maybe as
many as 20 children out to play. All the children and staff were
wearing high viz jerkins with the name of the school on them. There
was no fence around the playground, and I marvelled at this display
of freedom, and common sense. You would never be allowed to take
kids out of a school like that in UK.
The hot springs and mud pools were
fascinating. Every area was fenced and there were signs telling you
to keep to the paths, which were along lines that were less likely to
spontaneously become hot spots, which does happen on rare occasions.
Non the less there were many orientals who didnt seem to appreciate
it. I didnt see anyone become chink soup but there are stories of
this happening.
After a picnic lunch, I went down to
the Maori village of Ohinemutu on the shores of Lake Rotorua. This
is a working village, and not one that charges admission and then
puts on a display of dancing and entertainment for tourists. The
architecture is all the same Tudor type of build, but instead of
black timbers, they are a reddish brown colour. There was a large
Marae, and when someone opened the doors, I could see it was full of
ordinary chairs like any meeting hall or parish room. There was also
a community centre and through the open doors I could see a class in
progress where men dressed in jeans or shorts and (sometimes)
singlets or T-shirts were practising their traditional dances and
chants like the Haka done at the start of rugby matches. Later they
moved outside to the grass by the water, which was easier to watch.
The centrepiece of the village is a
lovely little church called St Faiths. Unfortunately you were not
allowed to take photos inside and I popped back several times to see
if it was empty, to break that rule as there was a very clever window
in the side chapel. The window was plain glass, etched with a
picture of Jesus. When you got far enough away from it it looked like
he was walking on Lake Rotorua, as the window overlooked the lake. I
later went to the souvenir shop, where I had a chat with the Maori
lady running it about how they can reconcile their traditional faith
with Christianity. She thought my question was surprising as she
didnt have a problem that there was one God (or whatever you wanted
to call it/him/her) and also to have lots of minor or demi gods and
goddesses. How refreshing was this to my ears, and how like my own
belief system. She said they always would off a prayer to the god of
water before going fishing – why not? It takes a little time and
you always want to be safe and also have a good catch, so why take
chances? We talked more, and I could see how similar one earth based
religion is to another. One difference I did see was that she never
mentioned fire as an element.
After leaving I went along to another
area of geothermal activity called Sulphur Point. I watched some
wader birds in the mud but really didnt feel like wandering through
more hot spots. I was still considering the conversation I had just
had with the Maori, and soon went back to the hostel, via the
supermarket.
NZ supermarkets are much the same as
any except they are smaller and dont have half the choice we have.
Imported food seems to be a little more expensive than for us, but
local produce cheaper. Of course peaches and apricots are local for
them, they grow all their salad crops and most veggies. Apples,
pears and grapes are also local and therefore cheap. Meat seems much
the same price, but lamb is far cheaper – no surprise there eh?
The quality of food in NZ is way above that in the UK though, even
the pre packed bags of salad taste fresh. I was disappointed with
the quality of the bread though. No instore bakeries and only factory
produced bread, and again not much choice. However village shops
that include bakeries and butchers are common, and the lack of choice
in supermarkets is what allows town and village shops to survive by
offering alternatives. Fish shops are also plentiful. Many fried
fish outlets will also sell fresh fish, and the NZ 'chippy' is as
common place as in UK. However, nowhere is more than a few hours
from the sea and the fish is extremely fresh. It doesnt go through
big wholesale markets before getting to the customer. Greengrocers as
we know them dont seem to exist. Instead there are road side stalls
selling produce straight from the fields, some are big
comprehensively stocked shops, others smallholding outlets with just
a few things. Of course this works in a sparsely populated country
where the largest city has only 1.5m people. You would be stuffed
living in Chelsea is you had to drive out to Guildford for fresh
produce in UK.
On
Friday I packed up to make my way to Hastings via Taupo. My aim was
to get to Hastings around 4.30pm to stay with Chris, who was one of
my best buddies in the days when our kids were at kindergarten
together. I was on a tight timetable this weekend, and I didn't want
to miss anything. Only 30 mins down the road, between Rotorua and
Taupo was my main sightseeing stop of the day, Wai O Tapu, the home
of the Lady Knox Geyser, which blew every day at 10.15. I was
intrigued to know how something could be so precise with its timing
when much of this nature is unpredictable. The story was wonderful
and explained all. In1901
the first open prison in New Zealand was established at Wai O Tapu,
its object to accommodate some of the better behaved prisoners from
around the jails of the Rotorua Lakes District. It was a gang of
those prisoners who first discovered the clearing in which the geyser
is situated and they realised that they no longer had to cut wood to
make fires to boil water to wash their clothes. However when they
added soap to their wash pool the geyser erupted and their smalls
were distributed far and wide. Today's science explains this as
being the addition of surfactants to 2 liquids of different temps
being held apart only by their surface tension. The soap breaks this
tension and an eruptions happens. This is used today to evoke an
eruption each day at 10.15am using eco friendly surfactant especially
made for this use.
The
rest of the area was an amazing walk through geo active areas where
water was coloured through the minerals in it to any colour of the
rainbow. After 2 hours I had to leave so as to keep within my time
frame, furthermore my blood sugars were low and it was lunchtime.
On
the outskirts of Taupo I saw signs to Huka Falls. Chris had told me
these were well worth looking at, so I did, and they were! I viewed
them from 2 locations. This also meant for the 5th
time that day I bumped into a German couple from the hostel! We
decided that we should exchange visiting cards as the Universe
certainly thought we had things in common. I then started the drive
to Hastings, which was incredible.
I knew it was going to be through mountains, but I really hadnt
considered what the landscape would be like. I had been warned to
make sure my car was fully fueled before leaving Rotorua, but the
reality that there were no petrol stations for 130 km didnt really
sink in until I began to drive the mountains, hills, more mountains,
a plateau and even more mountains. This was the scenery for about an
hour and a half. Some times you would pass a logging station or a
farmstead. there were 3 or 4 small cafes, but no other provision.
The single carriageway road continued up hill and down dale, mile
after mile. I saw thousands of sheep and hundreds of cattle. There
were quite few other vehicles on the road but nowhere much for anyone
to stop. I felt very much like I had done when I went across the
Nubian Dessert from Aswan to Abu Simbel, there there had been sand
followed by sand and sand and more sand. Here there were mountains
ad infinitum.
I
was glad to reach a more varied landscape on the outskirts of Napier,
and easily navigated to Chris' house in Hastings, arriving around 5.
A cuppa and a natter later, and the years began to roll back from our
last meeting. Chris was determined to show me as much about the Kiwi
lifestyle she could in the brief time we had together. It was
refreshing to see it through her eyes as a settler rather than a
local who maybe took too much for granted. She prepared a good meal
of local lamb and home grown salads. When I said how much I loved
lamb she asked if I would like it again the next day, and went about
hauling an enormous side of lamb out of the freezer. No chance of
going hungry in this household, just like the old days when our kids
were at nursery together!
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