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The Watercooler
New Zealand - part 1, part 2
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<blockquote data-quote="Marguerite" data-source="post: 57300" data-attributes="member: 1991"><p>Next instalment - our week in Taupo.</p><p></p><p>We arrived on Friday night but the supermarket was still open so we went shopping. I love exploring the food of new places and New Zealand was no different. More kumara, more yams and the kiwi fruit were amazingly cheap. BF1 & I especially love kiwi fruit. husband likes them but can't eat them - they have a similar digestive enzyme in their juice, like pineapple, which makes your tongue tingle if you eat too much. In husband's case, it gives him mouth ulcers.</p><p></p><p>We bought breakfast cereal - they sell muesli in bulk plastic containers so you can scoop out as much as you want into a plastic bag - and other staples.</p><p></p><p>Next morning - Saturday - was the "meet & greet" that a lot of these places do. We went to the office and collected loads of brochures on what places to see, but were still discussing it when we went to the morning tea. There we met a lovely Maori couple with their granddaughter. Grandma reminded me of my mother, while her husband was a lot like my mother's cousin. We talked to them a lot. An announcement was made - Wairakei Terraces was free today, there was a Maori cultural expo there. Hey, it's free - let's go.</p><p></p><p>The place is a reconstruction but owned by the traditional tribal owners of the area. They use it to teach and to illustrate a culture and way of life. It was a fascinating walk through the grounds also walking beside the creek and the geyser overflow, now partly tamed by the nearby geothermal power station. The electricity people have diverted some of the thermal spring back to the park, to illustrate the way it works and to also allow the park to use the hot mineral water in more traditional ways. I took my ugg boots off and paddled in the warm water. Further along the path was an old, deep bathing pool where I surprised a tourist swimming in her underwear - the afternoon was closing in, the air was about 3 degrees C (no more than 40 F) but the water was like a hot bath - about 40 C, over 100F. It was the first day where we really felt immersed in Maori culture.</p><p>All of us wanted to experience a hangi, or traditional feast baked over hot stones, so husband booked it for the Wednesday night - my birthday. Something to look forward to - I wouldn't be cooking dinner on my birthday!</p><p>It was cold and windy but difficult child 3 wanted to play mini-golf. It seemed early enough at 4pm so we stopped at a small mini-golf place on the lake edge for a game. The wind seemed to go straight through us from the south and when we looked to the other side of the lake, we could see three white-capped mountains, suspiciously conical. We were told these were Mount Ruapehu, Mount Ngauruhoe and Mount Tongariro. All active volcanoes, Ruapehu the most active. And the one with a ski field on it.</p><p></p><p>Next day, Sunday, was misty cold rain. The car had a thermometer in it which told us the outside temperature - as we drove to Rotarua it hit zero C. Our first appointment was with some model railway contacts of husband's. The little railway was almost deserted, they welcomed us with hot coffee and rides on their little train through rainforest. OK, it was cold and wet but we didn't care. It was a public open day but the weather was so gloomy the men packed up and left as we did.</p><p>We'd been told that the best boiling mud pools, geysers and stuff were back towards Taupo, even though we'd always thought Rotarua was famous for it all. So we began the drive back. But stopped at a big place called Te Puia.</p><p></p><p>We couldn't visit Rotarua and leave with no sight of a geyser!</p><p></p><p>Te Puia was big. Commercial, like Wairakei, but still culturally and ecologically sensitive. The large entrance building took us through the Maori legends of their people coming to New Zealand, and the bringing of fire to the mountains. Very well donw, difficult child 3 was even enthralled.</p><p>By now there was a constant drizzle but we put up with it and walked through the grounds. husband had loaded me into a wheelchair, it really was a long walk and he didn't want me to slow them down. We saw our first kiwi and our first boiling mud pools. And yes, you could smell the sulphur although it wasn't as bad as we'd been told - it smelt more like scrambled eggs, than rotten ones.</p><p>Because it was a cold day, steam was everywhere. It was condensing fast as it came out of the ground and it rose around us. The ground was warm in places too. At an open area there were stone terraces overlooking a flat, wet, steamy area where the geysers were due to erupt. We sat to watch it and found the terraces were hot! And sure enough, when we checked, despite the rain the terraces were dry! They were not dangerously hot, but comfortably warm like an electric blanket turned to 'high', but as you sat there you could feel the underside of your thighs begin to get prickly-hot and uncomfortable. easy child's hands were cold and she warmed them by placing them flat on the stone terraces. A tourist lay full-length on the warm ground, sighing in luxury.</p><p>Then all was forgotten as Pohuto erupted - it's a twin geyser! We watched in amazement, easy child & BF1 frustrated because there was so much steam they could barely discern the geysers themselves. The sound was incredible - a loud whooshing, like a hundred skyrockets firing off but held in place. I wanted to stay and watch until it stopped, but it just kept going. half an hour later, it was still going and we moved on. easy child & BF1 stayed, they said another small geyser then fired off for a short while, on a lower area. Pohuto was still going when they too left.</p><p>An amazing place.</p><p>Back at the gate there was a Maori meeting house where we were invited in for a cultural show, part of our entrance fee. As the rain was getting heavier, we agreed. difficult child 3 was going into full anxiety mode by now because it was all strange. We were getting the rocking, the hands over ears, the noises - we told him to cover his ears less obviously so he wouldn't offend people. We were visitors, he had to show respect to our hosts. I reluctantly let him play his Nintendo DS because it helped to calm him.</p><p>The show began - they took us through the basics. Rubbing noses as a greeting - to share the breath of life as a gesture of lifelong friendship. The haka - scary to watch if you don't know what to expect. We've seen it before, the NZ footballers always do a haka before every match against our teams. The poi dance, other dances, songs - we loved it. difficult child 3 began to come out of his shell a bit and at least watch. When he realised that he wasn't going to be asked to do anything, he relaxed more.</p><p>As we left we found the teaching centre of the place. The carving school and the weaving school. I had a long talk with a woman who turned out to be the head teacher of weaving and traditional skirt-making, about how it was done. We talked about vegetable dyes, the strength of the flax and how they scrape it with a mussel shell.</p><p></p><p>It was almost dark as we left, with an hour to drive back to Taupo. Too late to go to the other places we'd been told about. But now more aware, plus on such a cold night, we could see steam vents at various places along the side of the road. In a farmer's paddock, steam rose from a rocky vent which he'd fenced off to keep his sheep out of it. We were later told that sometimes these block up (a pebble rolls in, maybe) and the steam build up until the vent explodes into a crater. Or the hot spot moves, and a once-safe area is now dangerous.</p><p></p><p>Monday - what do you do on a cold, damp day? easy child & husband went to explore the shops and information centre while difficult child 3 & I did schoolwork and BF1 did some work. While difficult child 3 was working I noticed that from our bathroom window, I could look along the lake shore and see steam rising from the edge. Then the others returned and told us they had booked us on a boat trip. Most of these are extremely expensive but this was only $30 a head. It was a small replica steamboat and it couldn't tour the whole lake - it's the size of Singapore - but it took us to a fascinating spot, where some Maori carvings are etched into layers of pumice cliffs. The skipper told us about the late and how it's one of the most volcanically active places in the world. The explosion that formed the lake was ten times bigger than Krakatoa, he told us. There's more information here, as well as a photo of the carvings.</p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Taupo" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Taupo</a></p><p></p><p>After hearing so much about the volcanic activity we felt it was time to get up close and personal with a volcano. Next day, we determined - we were going to drive to Mt Ruapehu. We were going to walk on an active volcano. We explained to difficult child 3 (somewhat falsely, but the end justified the means in this case) that Mt Ruapehu was hardly going to erupt wildly, if it was covered in snow. We also pointed out (truthfully) that scientists are monitoring the volcanic activity all the time, and that New Zealand scientists know more about volcanoes than just about any others in the world, and if it wasn't likely to be safe then the roads would be closed and there would be warnings. And there weren't any warnings.</p><p></p><p>I think the final clincher in getting him to go, was the snow we could still see, on the mountain. He wanted to get close to the snow...</p><p></p><p>More later.</p><p></p><p>Marg</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Marguerite, post: 57300, member: 1991"] Next instalment - our week in Taupo. We arrived on Friday night but the supermarket was still open so we went shopping. I love exploring the food of new places and New Zealand was no different. More kumara, more yams and the kiwi fruit were amazingly cheap. BF1 & I especially love kiwi fruit. husband likes them but can't eat them - they have a similar digestive enzyme in their juice, like pineapple, which makes your tongue tingle if you eat too much. In husband's case, it gives him mouth ulcers. We bought breakfast cereal - they sell muesli in bulk plastic containers so you can scoop out as much as you want into a plastic bag - and other staples. Next morning - Saturday - was the "meet & greet" that a lot of these places do. We went to the office and collected loads of brochures on what places to see, but were still discussing it when we went to the morning tea. There we met a lovely Maori couple with their granddaughter. Grandma reminded me of my mother, while her husband was a lot like my mother's cousin. We talked to them a lot. An announcement was made - Wairakei Terraces was free today, there was a Maori cultural expo there. Hey, it's free - let's go. The place is a reconstruction but owned by the traditional tribal owners of the area. They use it to teach and to illustrate a culture and way of life. It was a fascinating walk through the grounds also walking beside the creek and the geyser overflow, now partly tamed by the nearby geothermal power station. The electricity people have diverted some of the thermal spring back to the park, to illustrate the way it works and to also allow the park to use the hot mineral water in more traditional ways. I took my ugg boots off and paddled in the warm water. Further along the path was an old, deep bathing pool where I surprised a tourist swimming in her underwear - the afternoon was closing in, the air was about 3 degrees C (no more than 40 F) but the water was like a hot bath - about 40 C, over 100F. It was the first day where we really felt immersed in Maori culture. All of us wanted to experience a hangi, or traditional feast baked over hot stones, so husband booked it for the Wednesday night - my birthday. Something to look forward to - I wouldn't be cooking dinner on my birthday! It was cold and windy but difficult child 3 wanted to play mini-golf. It seemed early enough at 4pm so we stopped at a small mini-golf place on the lake edge for a game. The wind seemed to go straight through us from the south and when we looked to the other side of the lake, we could see three white-capped mountains, suspiciously conical. We were told these were Mount Ruapehu, Mount Ngauruhoe and Mount Tongariro. All active volcanoes, Ruapehu the most active. And the one with a ski field on it. Next day, Sunday, was misty cold rain. The car had a thermometer in it which told us the outside temperature - as we drove to Rotarua it hit zero C. Our first appointment was with some model railway contacts of husband's. The little railway was almost deserted, they welcomed us with hot coffee and rides on their little train through rainforest. OK, it was cold and wet but we didn't care. It was a public open day but the weather was so gloomy the men packed up and left as we did. We'd been told that the best boiling mud pools, geysers and stuff were back towards Taupo, even though we'd always thought Rotarua was famous for it all. So we began the drive back. But stopped at a big place called Te Puia. We couldn't visit Rotarua and leave with no sight of a geyser! Te Puia was big. Commercial, like Wairakei, but still culturally and ecologically sensitive. The large entrance building took us through the Maori legends of their people coming to New Zealand, and the bringing of fire to the mountains. Very well donw, difficult child 3 was even enthralled. By now there was a constant drizzle but we put up with it and walked through the grounds. husband had loaded me into a wheelchair, it really was a long walk and he didn't want me to slow them down. We saw our first kiwi and our first boiling mud pools. And yes, you could smell the sulphur although it wasn't as bad as we'd been told - it smelt more like scrambled eggs, than rotten ones. Because it was a cold day, steam was everywhere. It was condensing fast as it came out of the ground and it rose around us. The ground was warm in places too. At an open area there were stone terraces overlooking a flat, wet, steamy area where the geysers were due to erupt. We sat to watch it and found the terraces were hot! And sure enough, when we checked, despite the rain the terraces were dry! They were not dangerously hot, but comfortably warm like an electric blanket turned to 'high', but as you sat there you could feel the underside of your thighs begin to get prickly-hot and uncomfortable. easy child's hands were cold and she warmed them by placing them flat on the stone terraces. A tourist lay full-length on the warm ground, sighing in luxury. Then all was forgotten as Pohuto erupted - it's a twin geyser! We watched in amazement, easy child & BF1 frustrated because there was so much steam they could barely discern the geysers themselves. The sound was incredible - a loud whooshing, like a hundred skyrockets firing off but held in place. I wanted to stay and watch until it stopped, but it just kept going. half an hour later, it was still going and we moved on. easy child & BF1 stayed, they said another small geyser then fired off for a short while, on a lower area. Pohuto was still going when they too left. An amazing place. Back at the gate there was a Maori meeting house where we were invited in for a cultural show, part of our entrance fee. As the rain was getting heavier, we agreed. difficult child 3 was going into full anxiety mode by now because it was all strange. We were getting the rocking, the hands over ears, the noises - we told him to cover his ears less obviously so he wouldn't offend people. We were visitors, he had to show respect to our hosts. I reluctantly let him play his Nintendo DS because it helped to calm him. The show began - they took us through the basics. Rubbing noses as a greeting - to share the breath of life as a gesture of lifelong friendship. The haka - scary to watch if you don't know what to expect. We've seen it before, the NZ footballers always do a haka before every match against our teams. The poi dance, other dances, songs - we loved it. difficult child 3 began to come out of his shell a bit and at least watch. When he realised that he wasn't going to be asked to do anything, he relaxed more. As we left we found the teaching centre of the place. The carving school and the weaving school. I had a long talk with a woman who turned out to be the head teacher of weaving and traditional skirt-making, about how it was done. We talked about vegetable dyes, the strength of the flax and how they scrape it with a mussel shell. It was almost dark as we left, with an hour to drive back to Taupo. Too late to go to the other places we'd been told about. But now more aware, plus on such a cold night, we could see steam vents at various places along the side of the road. In a farmer's paddock, steam rose from a rocky vent which he'd fenced off to keep his sheep out of it. We were later told that sometimes these block up (a pebble rolls in, maybe) and the steam build up until the vent explodes into a crater. Or the hot spot moves, and a once-safe area is now dangerous. Monday - what do you do on a cold, damp day? easy child & husband went to explore the shops and information centre while difficult child 3 & I did schoolwork and BF1 did some work. While difficult child 3 was working I noticed that from our bathroom window, I could look along the lake shore and see steam rising from the edge. Then the others returned and told us they had booked us on a boat trip. Most of these are extremely expensive but this was only $30 a head. It was a small replica steamboat and it couldn't tour the whole lake - it's the size of Singapore - but it took us to a fascinating spot, where some Maori carvings are etched into layers of pumice cliffs. The skipper told us about the late and how it's one of the most volcanically active places in the world. The explosion that formed the lake was ten times bigger than Krakatoa, he told us. There's more information here, as well as a photo of the carvings. [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Taupo[/url] After hearing so much about the volcanic activity we felt it was time to get up close and personal with a volcano. Next day, we determined - we were going to drive to Mt Ruapehu. We were going to walk on an active volcano. We explained to difficult child 3 (somewhat falsely, but the end justified the means in this case) that Mt Ruapehu was hardly going to erupt wildly, if it was covered in snow. We also pointed out (truthfully) that scientists are monitoring the volcanic activity all the time, and that New Zealand scientists know more about volcanoes than just about any others in the world, and if it wasn't likely to be safe then the roads would be closed and there would be warnings. And there weren't any warnings. I think the final clincher in getting him to go, was the snow we could still see, on the mountain. He wanted to get close to the snow... More later. Marg [/QUOTE]
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