Day 11: Redwoods and geysers

The day dawned will lots of blue sky and actual glarey sun, which boded well for the outdoor activities we had planned.

Leaving the motel about 8.45am we drove a whole five minutes to the Redwoods & Whakarewarewa Forest, a plantation of Californian redwoods planted years ago as a timber source. They didn't end up being useful because they grow too fast here and are therefore too soft to build or make things out of (is the story, I believe...).

There is now a (paid) treetop walk there, which we chose not to do, and instead we did a walk through the trails at ground level. Very peaceful and relaxing way to start the day.

From there we headed five minutes further along to Te Puia, where we had booked in for 90 minute tour of the geothermal pools, kiwi bird conservation centre and Maori Arts and Crafts Institute. The tour was followed by a 30 minute cultural performance and then an all you can eat hangi buffet lunch.

It was all very cool, and we went back to see the kiwis and the mud pools and geysers again after lunch, because we were interested, but also because we needed to do something to start digesting all the food we just ate!

Again, we lucked out with the weather and rain held off until we got back to the motel about 3.30pm. Needless to say. We did need to eat dinner tonight...Read more