Tarawera falls!

Today started out with a journey to fix the cars cigarette lighter socket. Fortunately, the first garage we went to on the advice of the camp owner was more than happy to fix it there and then. He showed us what to do if it happens again and gave us some spare fuses too ☺️ fingers crossed we won't need them though!
After this we headed to Rotorua town centre to try and get some wifi and have a bit of a wander. The sun had now come out and it was turning into a blazing hot day...yay!! So nice to see the sunshine after all the rain.
It is a lovely little town and I like that there seem to be al many more independent shops and cafes here. The green areas are abundant, with beautiful dark red trees dotted about and catching the light.
We had lunch by the lake and watched the scenic helicopter take off and land before heading along the lakeside to an interesting looking building we had spotted on our drive in.

It was a Maori meeting house and Anglican Church and it looked very alpine, especially with the backdrop of the blue lake, distant mountains and green trees 🌲it was a really beautiful meeting house. Lovely, intricate carvings and colour made all the more awesome but the odd bits of thermal steam coming out of the ground.

After this we headed on a drive to Tarawera Falls as we had read in a magazine that this was a great spot and would be great for a good photo too. We went to get our permit to enter the forest first and after that it was a drive along dusty gravel roads through pine forests, with the odd logging truck to be mindful of. We still love driving on the gravel because it makes you look cool with all the dust billowing behind you. Makes you feel like a speed demon at just 60kph 😁😬😃

We arrived at the falls car park and were told by some people leaving that people were swimming so we packed some stuff for that too... just in case!
The walk along was through what seemed like jungle and forest and we saw the people
Swimming in the river. Their response told it was freezing and we thought twice about it! Plus it was a strong current in fairly deep water, maybe not worth the risk! It looked so
Enticing though, a brilliant pale blue that was very clear and looked beautiful against the green jungle that came right up to the edge of the running water.

Instead we continued to the falls and it wasn't too long before we got there. They were amazing! So much larger than we had expected as the photo we had seen was of riverbed falls...this was bursting out of the cliff from several places both low and high, the highest falling in a long thin chute, the lower ones closer together spraying outward. We did a bit of clambering to get closer than the lookout and got some amazing long exposure photos that look very beautiful and surreal. And then we sat for a bit to enjoy the beauty of the place with no one else around us before heading back to camp.

The journey home was a little tiresome as we got stuck in traffic, but on the plus side we followed an online tip and found a spot to view one of the geysers you normally pay to see. It was through some railings, granted, but it was free and the geyser was pretty cool, spurting out steam up high.

Oh and I almost forgot, we were also able to follow the election at this point and we were becoming more and more concerned as the minutes went on. Back at camp we were refreshing the news in disbelief as trump seemed to be gaining ground and we ended up watching the rest on the TV. The only humerus thing was the New Zealand news casters who did really hide their feelings and their own disbelief on the matter.

We had a drink to commiserate the result and some games of pool to cheer ourselves up before bed.Read more