Up at 8am. Mum had to wake me for our trip to the volcanically active zone near Rotorua. Made a hurried meal and had a shower and we were on the road by nine. It is about 90km to Rotorua so we headed off past Lake Karapiro on State Highway 1. As we approached Rotorua under a dull overcast sky, Mum checked where we were going- we had chosen our destination last night before "Pirates"- and found it wasn't quite where we thought it was, although we were on the right road (surprise, surprise), it was 15kms south of Rotorua on the S.H. 5 which we had turned on to some time before. We passed the Agrodrome and the bungy jump, luge and Zorb before we reached the town, then carried on by and back out into the countryside. I was just wondering where Waimanga was exactly when we reached the turn off. We meandered through rolling grassland for about a mile and a half, then we knew we had nearly arrived because the verges were neatly cut. Very odd; with the tree ferns and native trees- sort of English village gone tropical. We debated where to park the car as it was still overcast. Mum wondered if we should park in the shade; I didn't think it mattered because we had air conditioning in the car. So we parked in the middle. Walked to the ticket counter past story boards telling us the aims of the company running the site and a short account of the eruption of 1886. I went to get the tickets and Mum went to the toilet. It was $32.50 to walk the trail and another $40 dollars for the boat ride if you wanted to do that. I don't really like boat trips and Mum wasn't keen so we just paid for the walk. It was a good decision.
No comments:
Post a Comment