Left our comfortable motel under grey skies and rain. It looked really gloomy and we were a bit stressed that the weather had set in but we rounded a corner and lo and behold the skies cleared and the next corner had blue sky! We stopped off at a hot springs that the locals use called Kerosene Creek and it looked like a great place to swim and relax in the warm water. Kate and Chloe were a bit worried we'd gate crashed a couple having a skinny dip but they were in bathers and shortly after we got there a two big groups of other people arrived so their serenity was well and truly shattered. It was too cold for us to swim so we only took photos. Yes, that's steam in the photo!
We continued south and stopped off at the Volcanic Activity Centre for a bit of education on tectonic plates, earthquakes and volcanoes. Had a very interesting video on the Canterbury (Christchurch) earthquakes of 2010/11. Hadn't realised that there were actually 3 quakes within a few months of each other - it was the February one that did the most damage and brought down most of Christchurch Cathedral. Hadn't realised just how many people died either. Onwards to the Honey Hive for some mead tasting and honeycomb purchasing and then on the Huka Falls where we ate our sandwiches. The weather had cleared to partly cloudy with extended sunny periods so very pleasant sitting in the sun and feeding our crusts to the little birds. After lunch checked out Huka Falls which are pretty spectacular as a large volume of water passes from the Lake Taupo and along the river through a small gorge. Hence there are a number of hydro and thermo electricity stations in this area.
Continued on to the "Craters of the Moon" which is an interesting walk on paths and a wooden boardwalk amongst the acid sulfate geothermal system venting steam from the fumaroles. Once again it reminded Larry of working at Murrin, Didn't give him a blood nose (the surroundings, not Jenny!) so he was happy with that.
Pretty casual drive the rest of the way to Taupo and we arrived in the afternoon and relaxed a bit before going to dinner and having a huge meal at the Lone Star Resturant, Gotta love a big chunk of meat for dinner. Back to the motel and Chloe had a bath/spa, then Larry had a bath, then bed.
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