7 December 2024 -New Zealand- North Island – Rotorua

It was a bit grey when we woke and was supposed to be grey all day but it actually turned out to be quite a sunny/cloudy day. We decided to go over to Rotorua area for the day.

However, after breakfast I had two zoom calls with 3 potential crew for next year which was good and I am getting some answers to the email I sent out for crew for next year.

We set off about 10.00am and drove the 80km to Rotorua which has a lot of thermal activity around it and it has an odour in the town of Sulphur!! En route we passed through a lot of farmlands (with cattle and sheep) and some vineyards. This is a vast area of land and little sign of habitation.

We went first to Hells Gate which is a thermal area some 16km from the centre and was recommended. We arrived and the first thing you do is to walk around the thermal pools. This Geothermal reserve was founded some 10,000 years ago and the heat comes from the magma from the earth’s core. This produces a number of chambers of heated steam under pressure which produces gases of carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide. There are a number of pools here which are fed from the underground water reservoirs. Hells Gate was given its name by George Bernard Shaw, the playwright in the 1900’s.

The thermal pools were over an area of about 3 hectares with various pools bubbling, burping and boiling with steam coming off in the heat with a lovely odour. We walked around and it was interesting and far more extensive than Craters of the Moon and it has the largest hot water waterfall in the world. We also went through forest where we saw Manuka Trees and Pango’s (Silver Ferns) which is now the very well-known symbol for NZ as seen on the All-Blacks Rugby Shirt. When the first Rugby Team left NZ in the 1800’s they were looking for a symbol and considered the Kiwi or the Silver Leaf. The Māori team advised against the Kiwi as it does not fly, only comes out at night and they used to be eaten. It was felt that the Silver Fern had only one objective and that was to win – striving to achieve and  to win. It has stuck to this day.

Once we had done the walk we went into the mud pools where you can smear the greyish mud on to yourself which has healthy properties although you are only allowed to spend 20 minutes in those pools for health reasons. This was fun and a laugh and then we showered and went into the sulphur pools and you can stay in them as long as you want. They are about 40 degrees centigrade and that was nice. Both of these treatments open the pores of your skin. You then go into the cold water to close your pores -this was quite a shock!!

After we had showered and dressed we felt we had enjoyed the experience although the smell lingers. In fact, we continued to smell the sulphur on us all day.

We left Hells Gate and had some lunch in town and then headed for the Redwood Forest. These trees were planted in the late 1890’s and are still not full mature. The largest is about 76m high and has a radius of about 2m and a circumference of about 6.5m. The tallest Redwood (or Sequioa) in the world called a Hyperion is 116m -taller than Big Ben being 96m and higher than the Statue of Liberty being 93 m. There was a tree walk about 20m up over about 700meters which was interesting and gave you a good perspective and the picture of the day is Jules and I on such a walk.

Once done we did the Redwood Memorial Walk which was 2km through the Redwood Forest. They are a beautiful sight and there are lots of ferns scattered around and seeing the light coming through the trees and the ferns was spectacular.

Once we had finished forest bathing we left and drove back to Taupo for supper which was good. We move on tomorrow for Wellington.  

Opportunity Year Two

In year two I will be going from New Zealand in early January 2025 across to Sydney and up the Eastern Australian Coast, Indonesia and then through Bali, Singapore and on to Thailand to end year two about the end of November 2025. I will need some more crew.

If there is any interest do email me at  hine.nick9@gmail.com  

The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com