Having my trusty hire car is great, it means I can do my own thing, so today I decide to head further down the North Island to Taupo, the great big lake in the middle. On the way I visit the Wai-O-Tapu (Sacred Waters) Thermal Wonderland, including the world famous Lady Howe Geyser that erupts at 10.15am prompt every day. All the way there, I was puzzled – time is a man-made thing, so how does this geyser know to erupt at the same time each day? I sit in the “amphitheatre” with everyone else, looking at this grey pyramid shape of stone awaiting the wondrous event. And at precisely 10.15am the park ranger appears with a brown paper bag in his hand and throws the contents down the hole. He explains that the normal cycle of the geyser is not predictable, so they drop down 300g of soap powder to break the surface tension, and bingo, off she goes! A bit like a giant bubble machine as the soap powder does its work. I’m sure at school they taught us that volcano things spurt lava, not lather. Bit of a let down really... Apparently many moons ago, there was a prison nearby and as the prisoners did their washing, they accidentally dropped some soap in the geyser and got the fright of their lives as it went off and their undies flew 20 metres into the air. So their accidental discovery has spawned another tourist spot. But the rest of the park seemed a lot more natural, amazing colours depending on which mineral is present, champagne pools (sadly not the real thing, just lakes with small bubbles rising all the time), and deep holes full of mud plopping away. But that was only the starter, my main target for the day was a theme park like no other, situated near the Huka Falls – the publicity blurb reads “The Huka Falls are impressive, true. But after you’ve seen a million litres of water fly off a cliff once, you need to pick up the excitement a bit. Luckily Huka Prawn Park is just up the road”. The idea of a Prawn theme park, the home of “Shawn the Prawn” was just so silly I had to go. It was the kind of place Ant and Dec would go – I remember a couple of years ago when they were doing I’m a Celebrity in Oz, they had to go to Tropical Fruit World as it was so silly – this for me was the same! This place is about as far away from the sea as you can get in New Zealand, why are they growing prawns? I can’t believe I’m saying this but it was really interesting! I learnt all about prawn farming, and even fed the baby ones by hand. I passed on the killer prawn golf and the hook a prawn fishing (whatever you catch they cook for you), but did the nature walk along the Waikoto river, and finished with the geothermal foot bath – very nice it was too. But the real target, it so happened it was just about lunch time, was the restaurant where I was able to sample the delicious fruits of their labour. I then actually went to the real natural wonder of the area, Huka Falls – not really falls as we know them, more a rather large bit of white (or should I say deep blue) water where the river goes downhill a bit. The water was so clear it was amazing. Then on into Taupo where the enormous lake has a little beach that was full of people having a day out and enjoying the water as it was a lovely hot summer day. But as you look in the distance, there was a mountain that still has lots of snow on the top. A great place to live if you like the water, a bit of heat and also skiing. Back the country way, driving through farming and logging areas, with lots of dairy cows (all that farming education in Argentina has paid off…) eating all that green grass to make that lovely Anchor butter. It was a really clear night and it was quite special looking at the Southern skies which are so full of stars, whilst listening to the primordial sounds of the bubbling mud just a few yards away.
