The Reynoldz: April 2007

Monday, April 23, 2007

Taupo continued - nature pictures

I can't believe that I have been home for 3 whole days and I've only unpacked 2 suitcases. OK, one went into a clothes basket and still needs to be put away in a dresser, so I've only really put away one. I have to go back to work in the morning, so I wanted to finish the blog before then. My kids still have not adjusted back to Minnesota time. Bummer for the morning... At least the weather has been nice.

Also, we stopped by to see Grandma D and Grandpa Ted tonight. My brother Dave had just left to take Grandpa Ted to the hospital, where he is staying the night. He was having some fast heart beats and felt flush. He is stable and they are going to monitor him overnight. Please say a prayer that he is OK.

As for Taupo trip continued. I enjoy taking nature pictures and I will share some with you.

I thought these mushroom shots were cool because I have only seen this type of mushroom as a picture from my mom's mushroom jigsaw puzzle. We used to put it together on New Years Eve when I was a kid. I think it is a Amanita Muscaria, after doing some searching some on the web. Maybe not, but I thought the pictures were cool.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita_muscaria

Something took a bite out of these two. I swear it wasn't me... I really did get on that zip line all by myself. No help from this mushroom... :-)

A little note about this bee on the flower. I took this picture at the start of our hour and a half walk. On the way back, this bee was still on the flower. Only it was raining and he was sitting under the the flower. I wish now I would have taken that picture too.

Gail on the zip line and sheep dog chasing after me. Now do I look like a sheep? I think that is fleece I'm wearing, but it is the recycled plastic bottled kind.

Matt zippity do daa.

Now onto Tuesday 4/17. We drove an hour north to see the Wai-O-Tapu (Sacred Waters) Thermal Wonderland. A place to see geysers, craters, mud pools, boiling water and some pretty cool colored water.

At exactly 10:15 am each day, Lady Knox Geyser goes off. How does that happen at the same time everyday? And how does it know about daylight savings time? Well, the geyser is active and would go off at unpredictable times, so they help it each day at 10:15 by adding a cup of soap into the top of the geyser. This soap loosens the crust or mineral sediment that formed on top of the water, which allows the geyser to shoot off the steam that it has built up during the past 23 hours. The geyser then continues to spray for 45 minutes or so. The hot stream of water turns into cold water when it hits the air. We managed to get a shower as we had our pictures taken. The wind cooperated so well. Hence, some of the sour faces on my children.

I did take Anna's picture too, but on my 35 mm, so you'll have to wait for that.

We moved on to see the mud pools. The ground was bubbling with mud. It was close enough to touch, but that might hurt a lot. Careful not to fall in or we might become a fossil.

The rest of the park was a 30 minute to 75 minute walk to see all the craters. Well, you know us with a 30 minute walk... Anna and the 4 young girls went on the 30 minute (1 hour) walk, then they went back to get a treat in the Cafe while Dani, Matt and I went on the rest of the walk. PU, it smelled so bad.

Hurry along girls, (that is Anna on the bridge over some hot water). The steam just engulfed you with this huge egg stench. It was pretty though.

There are birds that nest in the sides of the craters. The heat from the boiling water below incubates the eggs. We didn't see any birds, but could see the holes in the sides of the craters. The girls pretended turning into unicorns amongst the unicorn trees. I liked the arches the trees formed.

A view of the valley with the lakes. A waterfall. I think the water levels were lower than normal.

Some of the different pools of hot water. We called the green one Shreks bathtub. They called it the Devel's Bath. I prefer Shrek. Oh and yes, the depth is farther than the pictures show.

Time to head back to the cabin. On the way back we stopped at Huka Falls. The place we tried to walk to the prevous day. The color of the water was amazing. So blue. The flow of the falls is controlled by gates from Lake Taupo. The energy produced from this water is used to support the electric usage on the North Island. Here is the info if you want to know more. Otherwise, just enjoy the beauty.

Wednesday, heading back to Wellington.

We finally had a clear day to view the vocanos. Quick stop before the clouds come in.

Ruapehu and Ngauruhoe, both active. These two are next to each other in the Taupo volcanic zone. Ngauruhoe is covered by clouds.

Baa baa black sheep. Feed meeee baaa baaa. They came running up to the fence as soon as we stopped. Either they are trained to entertain the tourists or they really thought we would feed them. Sorry Sheep.

Leaving on Thursday, 4/19/07. The gang waiting by security. No, don't go.

If you look at the caption closely, it says Wild at Heart. That is what these girls are. I guess all of us are a little bit. That is what makes all of us who we are. I sure enjoyed our stay with Anna, Eric, Haidyn and Athea. We hope to visit again. For now, I'm signing off as the guest blogger on the Reynoldz site. Love ya all. Aunty Gail.

# posted by The Reynoldz : 3:40 PM 6 comments

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Lake Taupo trip

Greetings, as promised, this is what we did on our trip to Taupo.

On Sunday 4/15/07, we packed up the people mover and headed 350 kilometers north to the center of the North Island. Lake Taupo. Figuring you can travel 100 km, it should take about 4 hours or so to get there. However, the main highway is a two lane road with many different towns to go through. We made a few quick stops along the way and it took us about 6 hours. We stayed at a Top 10 Campground just outside of Taupo. We traveled from Wellington to the lake you see in the middle of this map.

We saw the West side of New Zealand for a short bit before the highway turned inland. The highway heading out of Wellington.

This is Kapiti Island.

Kapiti Island Nature Reserve is one of New Zealand's premier conservation sites. It provides a great insight into how New Zealand would have looked before the arrival of mankind. It only has plants and species native to New Zealand.

We stopped in a town called Levin to play at the huge park. The kids enjoyed the trampolines, zip lines and climbing. A way to shake the wiggles out before heading back on the road.

We stopped for a bathroom and treat break at this gas station with a Airplane painted like a cookie. It stunk like mildew, but the kids enjoyed it. Athea gave her mommy a nice poopie treat, not the pop sickle kind. So our stay was a little longer while there was a dig for a change of clothes. Faith was both the pilot and the flight attendant on Cookie Air.

Athea says - I'm all cleaned up, ready for a treat.

Are those sheep up there in the hills?

We saw the Volcano, Mount Ruapehu, but it was covered in clouds. Hoping we have a sunny day so we can see the peak.

The campground has cabins, where we rented one. #18. A nice small place with 4 bunk bed in one room (sleeping 8) and another two beds in the front room with a table, fridge and sink. No toilet, that is down the road. Just like camping. Next to the cabin was a 200 meter drop to a boiling pool of water. A steamy haze constantly rose over the trees and the electric fence that my kids were totally interested in. A haze was a little erie and smell was egg farty.

It was a nice place and it had a great pool that was heated by the thermal ground. There also was a nice playground and a huge air filled jumping mat. Little did we know they were doing demo work on the two adjacent units. Gutting them completely to add hot water, stoves and I think I heard toilets. The workmen started pounding away by 7:00 am. Rise and shine. They were nice about it and waited until 7:30 the next day.

Jump, jump, my feet are cold... Waa waa, my feet are cold.

Yes, that is steam coming from the pool. The air was colder than the water. Hard to get out.

On Monday we went on a hike to see the hot springs where people bathe and Huka Falls. A 45 minute walk is what the sign said. After an hour or more, we asked some people who were coming back if the falls were far and they said, we were only about 1/2 way. So we turned around. Our kids are not the hikers yet and silly us, we didn't bring the water with. The sites were beautiful, here are some pictures. It reminded me of the St. Croix river valley, except the water was so blue/green from the thermal pools. The leaves are changing colors since it is fall in New Zealand. We also saw some black swans, beautiful. It rained for a little bit during our return walk and when we came up over the hill, we saw a rainbow. We let the kids play at the park a bit before heading back for dinner.

The bridge crossing over the thermal stream. Many people were bathing under the bridge, but I just took a picture of the hot spring waterfall, you can see the steam, if you look close.