Helen and Randall on the road

Tuesday afternoon’s arrival in Rotorua was a bit of a write off due to inclement weather, although I did sit in the camp site’s hot pools in the rain which was quite nice:

The camp kitchen was busy and slightly competitive, with roast chickens and apple crumbles being pulled out of ovens, and seared salmon steaks with halloumi cheese salad in evidence (I shamelessly stole the idea for that last one for the next night’s dinner). Our one-pot curry was a bit underwhelming though.

Breakfast the next morning made up for it though:

Smoked salmon & scrambled eggs, raisin toast and 5 seed bread toast, OJ, muesli and proper coffee.

This fortified us for a walk around the Blue Lake, which was a bit of a hack through the jungle in parts as the path was submerged beneath the flood waters, but it was quite lovely, and the water spectacularly clear. So much so that we were tempted to hire a kayak. But not that tempted.

Then it was back to the camp site to sit in the hot mineral water pools:

before the rain started again in earnest and we had to retreat (along with the campsite fluffy black and white cat) to the TV room, then dinner and another early-ish night feeling a bit sorry for the people in the two-man tent camped next to our van.

Thursday was Geyser day with a visit to Whakarewarewa Thermal Village where 60 Maori live a semi-traditional life using the volcanic thermal waters and steam for bathing and cooking (although they do cheat and have electricity and running water in their houses too!):

Cooking using steam and geothermal hot water.

Beautiful thermal pools for cooking & bathing, & the ‘cooling pools’ between them.

Helen and some Geyser (fnar)

Geyser action from the Prince of Wales feathers (right) and Pohutu (left – ‘the big splash’ in Maori apparently!).

How to make a skirt from flax and natural dyes and fixatives.