Well back in New Zealand we started working on our boat, and that was daily life for a few weeks. We were originally scheduled to splash on May 5th, but we learned along the way that we would be delayed – at least for a week.
Therefore, we grabbed the opportunity to do some tourist activities for the extra weekend we got. After advice from some cruising friends who have spent the Pacific cyclone season here, we decided to go to Rotorua, which is in the central Northland region. The area is well known for its geothermal activities, as well as its rich Māori culture.
The town is quaint, very walkable, and with lots of parks, decent restaurants and coffee shops. We stayed at and old, traditional hotel downtown, right by Lake Rotorua.
The area is part of what is called the North Island Volcanic Plateau, and is a large area covering much of central North Island of New Zealand. The area consists of several volcanoes, lava plateaus, and crater lakes. It was quite special witness steam coming out from the middle of nowhere as we drove around. Sometimes just right beside the road.
The first stop on our agenda was an active thermal area, called Waiotapu Thermal Wonderland. It was sort of a geothermal theme park, with walkways where one could view the different geothermal elements.
The park also had an active geyser, and they organize a scheduled eruption every morning by using soap to trigger it.
After the visit to the park, we visited a boiling mud pod, which was sitting right next to the road. The temperature held almost 100 degrees Celsius, and we were advised to not goo too close, as you don’t really want any of the boiling mud on you.
The captain got some really cool shots of the fun figures the mud made as it boiled in its own mud lake.
After the thermal activities on the ground, we were up for an adventure closer to the skies. They have planted a Redwood forrest in this area, and have built a treewalk high above the ground.
This area is also home to several wellness spa centers, where one can swim in hot springs, take sulphur baths or mud baths. We enjoyed a visit to Hell’s Gate Mud Spa, where they also had a sulphur bath.
As we were playing tourists, we had to visit the local brew pub, as well as eat at some of the local restaurants. Since Whangarei does not have the gastro pubs we experienced in Bay of Islands, we went for that here, and enjoyed some shared plates with greasy food.
We stayed one more day and visited Hobbiton, and left the tourist life, all greased up and ready for the last few days of boat work on the yard, before embracing the remote sailing life once again.