Maori carvings
The Maori traditions are still very strong in this area and they were very obliging to show off their heritage.
Lake Taupo - hiding its dark secret
Here we visited Lake Taupo, which is another huge crater lake.
The bottom temperature is hot enough to boil an egg, and the surface is too cold even to swim! This is one massive amount of water. This volcano is also still active, if it erupts – goodbye to most of the Southern hemisphere!
Mount Ruapehu is somewhere in the mist
Next came Mt.
Ruapehu. We didn’t actually get to see this mountain as it was so heavily shrouded in mist. This is another active volcano which erupted last in 2007 and is at the moment rumbling again. The crater lake temperature has risen dramatically.
We drove on through Tuarangi, Desert Road (which is a huge desolate expanse of volcanic lava), Okahung, Wanganui, and two quaint, sleepy little towns: Levin and Foxton.
Foxton Beach
Wellington waterfront
Eventually we arrive in Wellington which, according to Lonely Planet, is the best little capitol in the world. Obviously they use different criteria to measure this than I do; to me it was just another city – clean and pretty, but not much else to for me to tell.
The waterfront is interesting in an arty sort of way and the museum looks like it could be worth a visit – we were too late by the time we found it to see much more than the entrance.
Our adventure continues in the next post…