Mt Tarawera, Orakei Korako & Lake Taupo

I've read about the Mt Tarawera tour on Lonely Planet but it was a little hard to locate on the net but my lovely travel buddy found them and we promptly made bookings for the trip as soon as we were sure of the dates.

We arranged to be picked up at the Rotorua tourist information centre at 8 a.m. The morning started out really badly with our hotel. Firstly, they did not deliver our breakfast at 715 as requested and then the reception was not attended by anyone which meant that we could not check out even if we wanted to, which meant that we had to return to the motel to check out after our trip. So in the end, we left a note voicing our displeasure and left so that we weren't late for our tour.

Fortunately, our tour only had 2 of us as the other party cancelled, and the lovely guide, Jude took us back to the hotel as it was closer to get to Lake Taupo after we finish Mt Tarawera without getting back to Rotorua. So we headed back to the motel in hope that someone would be there now and someone was, so we checked out. Jude also found out that we weren't served breakfast and made the lady in the motel made us breakfast-to-go. Hahaha.. I have to say, Jude was quite an imposing figure :) . Executive on Fenton - you were disappointing.

Anyway, we made it to Mt Tarawera behind the intended schedule but hey, there was only 2 of us! It was like a private tour! :). And Jude was the lovely tour guide anyone who wish for.

First views of where we're headed

The mountain is privately owned and there is only one company that is allowed to bring tourist up there for a tour. Our tour cost NZD 266 for the both of us. We took the guided half day volcano adventure tour. They're probably best contactable via their website : www.mt-tarawera.co.nz

Our path

We took the short scree, crater walk and crater exit. The other ones requires absailing and mountain climbing so we skipped it. The short's good enough. The other option for those who doesn't want to go into the crater as it can be quite steep, is to walk around the volcano.

Making our way

In the hands of our trusty guide, Jude

Sneak-peek of what we're in for

The actual downward walking into the crater was quite daunting initially. The ground was made up of loose pebbles and there wasn't much grip on it despite wearing trainers. And the walk, it was some experience! Because there wasn't much grip and the degree of downward slope was quite extreme at certain areas, we were made to dig our shoes into the ground when we walk. The right way of doing it is that your legs , up till about 3-4 cm above ankles to mid calves should be buried under the ground and you sort of slide your way down with your feet. *Do wear dark coloured pants and covered shoes*

Making my way down

The happy 2

We weren't allowed to take photos while going down into the crater so there's only 2 pictures of the process. The photos doesn't do it justice though - it looks wayyyy steeper in real.

And now, some random photos because I took so many of them!

The fab 2 :P

The path we conquered! Hehehe~

:)

Don't be fooled - it was still quite steep off the the side!

Finally made it back up *It was freezing!!!*

Mt Tarawera

The mountain had the largest eruption in New Zealand in living history. The 1886 eruption was the most impressive and it lies over one of the most active fault lines in the world. The 1886 explosion extended to 17km long of area and magna was ejected over a 6 hour period. The last explosion was also a mystery in the sense that it exploded sideways and not upwards, which was unusual as all it's previous eruptions were of upwards. We were told that it was unusual for a volcano to change its eruption ways. Interesting....

@ Base Camp

We then drove back to base camp to collect our 'certificates' and to sign the guestbook. More volcanic informations are available there for those interested.

There are 5 volcanic alert levels and they differ slightly in the frequently active and reawakening volcanoes. Generally, level 1 is dormant/quiescent state and level 5 are large hazardous eruptions are in progress.

Our transport for the trip

Love the car plate! :)

We didn't finish that late in the end, it probably only took us about 2 hours and a bit to finish up. We picked our car up from Waimangu and headed off to Lake Taupo, our next destination. We had lunch at one of the cafes opposite the Lake which was wonderful!

Cafe

Forgot what the place is called but the burger that I had - it was really really good!!

My lunch

They also sold random food items in the shop, even indian spices and things!

Items for sale

We checked in to our accommodation for the night - Lake Taupo Motor Inn. I booked the luxury suite which was only about 10-15 bucks extra from their standard room which was a bargain! It was a 2-bedroom place, LCD TV and mini kitchen! It was great!

Just realized there's a CD player above the couch!
*LOL*

My room

Both of the rooms were quite similiar - both cosy and nice with electric blankets. Absolute bliss! :)

After dropping in our bags and things we then headed off to our next destination - Orakei Korako.

Orakei is about midway between Lake Taupo and Waimangu, so it was a little of a backtrack for us but we were quite hungry when we left Waimangu so that was ok. Anyway, we arrived at Orakei Korako at about 3 p.m and spent about 2 hours there. The thermal area is actually located across the lake from it's visitor centre but their boat runs on demand, so that was good. Plus it only takes 3-5 minutes to get across.

Walkway entrance to Orakei Korako

On the boat

When translated, Orakei Korako means The Place of Adorning. Apparently, Orakei was also the site of filming for the BBC series of "Walking with Dinosaurs". The visit begins with taking a boat across Lake Ohakuri and the first thing that comes to view is the Emerald Terrace which is the largest silica terrace in New Zealand.

Arriving at the 'hot' land! :)

Found this interesting and a little disturbing

Loved the strong colours

There was 9 main points in Orakei but we had one that we absolutely had to get to. And it was the furthest of all - Ruatapu Cave.

Fred and Maggie Pool

Te Kapua - "The Golden Fleece"

Looked nothing like gold, it is called Te Kapua which means clouds in Maori. The was formed in the 131 AD and is 5meters high and 40meters long.

Ruatapu Cave

Also known as the sacred cave, it is within the Hiwa Nga Ana (Hill of Caves), which origin is still uncertain. There is only 2 geothermal caves in the world, the other being in Southern Italy.

In memory of a boy

Love the blue/emerald waters!

The pond at the bottom of the cave is known as Waiwhakaata aka pool of mirrors. The blue waters seem to have a calming effect. It was only after reading the information guide that I dare to touch the water. *It is usually not recommended to touch any water in a geothermal as the temperature can be quite high*. It said that the pool had a unique ability to clean jewellery due to its acidic and chemical composition.

Looking down at the geothermal

Where we came from - across Lake Ohakuri

Loved the scenery!

The famous Kiwi

We then drove back to our motel for a rest before heading out to dinner. I was so tired by then that I was grumpy and couldn't wait to climb into bed for a quick nap while K went out to Lake Taupo to have a look-see.

We then booked in for dinner at one of the recommended restaurant (that was also in the entertainment book - YAY! ) - Pimentos Restaurant.

The wall displays

The displays were really quite interesting as they are made from random tools in a workshop. Like pieces of wood and some screws and nails and things. Really quite an art.

And our glorious dinner! It was really really good and I would recommend anyone heading to Lake Taupo to visit this place. It may not look like much on the outside, but the food was really good. K thinks its the best we've had in NZ (I think it comes second - will let u know which comes first for me in a later post :P)

Our appetizer

The delicious main :)