November 16
First a morning of golf – right across the street from the campground – on a course that had ‘thermal activity’ along the way and a new golf cart that Gerry would like to own…
Then we went exploring. One really interesting thermal area – Craters of the Moon – is close to Taupo. We spent a couple of hours following the trail around through the area.
That is not low-lying clouds in the photos, but steam!
Gerry climbed to the top to the viewpoint – you can just see him in his blue shirt at the top of the photo. In the mud crater you can see the bubbles where it was boiling.
At the entry to the area there were some interesting woven flowers. Reminded me of wheat weavings.
On our first night in the camper van we stayed at Port Waikato which is the mouth of the Waikato River – NZ’s longest. At Huka Falls we were close to the source of that same river – Lake Taupo.
(No, that’s not us in the jet boat, but it looked like it might be fun!) The water just goes over an 11m ledge, but since the chasm is so narrow, it’s coming really fast.
We drove a little bit around the lake – the largest in Australasia, it was formed by a massive earthquake (a very long time ago).
Gerry toured the Volcanic Activity Centre experiencing a simulated earthquake & tornado and used a seismograph to check out the current ‘activity’ in the area.
He found out that it was safe to stay in the area.
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