Huka Falls

Well the rain has stopped so we headed up to Huka Falls, where NZ’s longest river, the Waikato, slams into a natural chasm with a 10m drop. There were a lot of tourists around and the jet boats were doing spins every time you blinked so it was very spectacular. We then headed north to the Aratiatia Dam where the gates are opened several times a day to stop the dam from flooding. It was amazing to see the water gushing through the dam (enough to fill Olympic sized swimming pools every minute!). In the afternoon we visited Craters of the Moon, a geothermal park with lots of mud pools, steaming lakes and bubbling craters. We had warned the kids of the smell, but it really did get to them so we knew Rotarua was going to be interesting. Anyway, Craters of the Moon was so interesting and the view from the top of the hill looked out over Lake Taupo and beyond. Again, another climb a very steep one this time, giving the fitbits a real workout but totally worth it when you get to the top. We decided to push on to Rotarua and found a very expensive holiday park, which was smelly, with thermal pools (which were very warm and smelt very bad), with steam coming out of the vents. The kids have decided to name it “rotten egg city” and can’t believe people would actually live here! The rain is still teaming down so we had steaming thermal experience in the rain!Read more