Where Are The Powells?: From Kauri forests to geysers

From Ahipara and the end of 90 mile beach, we continued down route 12 on the north west coast to Waipoua Forest, home of the giant kauri trees and Tane Mahuta, the Lord of the Forest. They were enormous…

We stayed at in a lovely rural town of Matakohe and saw the Kauri Museum

Over the next few days we drove south of Auckland and across to the Coromandel Peninsula. Up through Thames and along route 25 to Coromandel Town. The views were amazing, even down to the mountain cows on the terraces…

We went around the peninsula and stayed at Hot Water Beach. Here, at an hour each side of low tide, you can dig a hole in the sand and watch it fill with hot mineral water, creating your own private spa bath. Unfortunately, the timings didn’t work for us (low tide was at midnight) and we were leaving the next morning (low tide at midday), so we didn’t get the chance to see this work. The beach was nice though…

We continued our drive along the coast of the Bay of Plenty on route 25 to Mount Maunganui. A little stroll (!) up the hill (232m high) gave us stunning views across the bay and the port of Tauranga

That night we stayed at Papamoa Beach, and what a wild and stormy one it was. This is the view in the morning as the storm was clearing…

We drove down into Rotorua and the first thing that hits you is the smell of sulphur. Then you see steam rising from the lake, cracks in the stone and even little wells in peoples gardens. Government Gardens is a lovely park near the centre of town and next to the city museum, which began life as a bath-house.

The gardens contain a boiling cauldron known as Rachel Spring and water from here was piped into the bath house.

We visited Te Puia, one of the main Maori cultural centres in NZ, a place of gushing waters, steaming vents, boiling mud pools and a geothermal valley of geysers. The Pohutu geyser erupts up to 20 times a day up to 100 feet in the air.

We visited the Kiwi House and saw a pair of football shaped birds with long beaks, hiding in the dark. The guided tour included the Carving and Weaving schools where students carry out the traditions of their Maori ancestors. In the evening, we enjoyed a cultural experience and welcoming ceremony, heard stories of the past and saw the performing arts. We had the opportunity to twirl the ‘poi’ – a large pom pom on a piece of rope (women) while the chaps learnt the ‘Haka’. We then had a great dinner or ‘hangi’ where the meats and veges are roasted in a pit of hot coals.