Hot and cold spring rivers, and a naturist campsite

Hot & Cold river/hot spring

Today it was time to leave Rotorua Farm Stay and see where the road took us.  We stopped to soak in the Hot and Cold spring rivers on the way.  Once again we enjoyed rubbing clay all over ourselves and soaking it off, and relaxing.

From there we headed further north in the direction of Tauranga to Katikati Naturist Park (http://www.katikati-naturist-park.co.nz/) which is a naturist campsite with a few chalets.  The campsite is lovely. It has a pool, sauna, 2 hot tubs, mini golf, a pentanque court, a play area for children,  a river to swim in, you can feed the eels; barbecue facilities and kitchen amenities,  a small shop, etc.

Mini golf at Katikati (photograph off the internet)

After unpacking we had a game of mini golf - Paul won hands down!  I have a problem with accuracy...  One of more permanent campsite owners has a cat which plonked itself down on the mini golf green to sun itself.  We didn't mind it watching our game but we ended up having to play our balls around it - an extra skill we could add to our mini golf skills!

The campsite has WiFi which is great because we can try to plan what we would like to do tomorrow.  However, we had a bit of trouble with the internet.  Paul went onto his telephone and discovered that there was WiFi and there was a prompt to get a voucher code to get access to the internet.  So he went through the motions of getting the code but the code was never sent to his telephone in a text message; and he couldn't log on to get access to his email to see if a code was sent there.  We went to reception to find out what the problem was.  Apparently you had to physically buy a voucher from reception and use the code.  Although the wiFi seemed to be Katikati's own wiFi (even though it was named as such), it wasn't really - they got a special deal from the network for users.  Paul wasn't terribly happy because he had naturally paid money for a service that he wasn't getting.  Eventually the campsite owner agreed to give Paul a voucher to log into the network.  Soon afterwards Paul found that he had also access to the package that he had originally tried to sign up with!

Today's route, more or less.

Oh, a smile a while moment...  One chap at the campsite, obviously batting for the other side, brazenly asked him about his penis tip full piercing. Paul didn't bat an eyelid and said it was fine, didn't hurt. Methinks the chap is going to go to Rotorua tomorrow for one!

PHOTOGRAPHS

Hot & Cold

Getting white clay from the river bank

Mix it with a bit of water to make it more into a paste

Smear the paste on. 

Lovely gooey stuff!

Rinse off and relax.  The clay also works as a good sunscreen
for shoulders and face!

Katikati Naturist Park 

(Photographs off the internet)

Entrance to reception and small shop

Mud pools and hot spring rivers

Kerosene Creek

After a delicious breakfast Paul and I headed out from the farm stay to explore the surrounding
countryside, ideally hoping to come across hot springs.

We found a place called Kerosene Creek and found a quiet spot in the warm stream for a dip after which we headed upstream to the waterfall where there was a nice natural pool below the waterfall.  It was like getting into a warm bath so we couldn't stay in the water for too long - we got quite hot!  It was a very popular area for visitors!

Wai-o-Tapu mud pools

After our dip we headed to the Wai-o-Tapu geothermal area and stopped to watch a mud lake bubbling and steaming away.  We could have gone to see the Lady Knox Geyser and visited the Wai-o-Tapu Thermal Wonderland close by but the parking area was full and the place looked very busy.  We decided to give it a miss.

Hot and Cold (hot spring rivers)

Just a bit further down from the thermal wonderland car park we came across the Wai-o-Tapu Bridge Hot Springs (it also goes by the name of Hot and Cold).  Two rivers merge into one; the one river being cold and the other hot but merging to make a lovely warm area to sit in (the river is quite shallow).  And it is for free!  We discovered that part of the river bank was of white clay so we got some, made it into a paste and smeared it on ourselves.  We then allowed it to dry off a bit (it became powdery) before sitting in the river and soaking it off.

After an hour or two at the river we took the back roads to Taupo, on the edge of Lake Taupo, had a quick bite and took the back roads to our lodgings.

There is a nest of 5 chicks outside our bedroom window, in a rose bush.  And below, on the ground, a hen is brooding.  The farmer's wife is keeping an eye on the hen so that she doesn't go hungry while incubating her clutch of eggs.  It's a nice little nursery area outside.

Time for bed.

More or less our route today, in a clockwise direction

PHOTOGRAPHS

Kerosene Creek

 

 

Wai-o-Tapu Mud Pools

Hot and Cold

The nursery outside our bedroom window

Hell's Gate and a hot spring soak

A snapshot of our whereabouts today but not the actual road route 

Today we visited Hell's Gate?  Eh?  😳  Fortunately it is not the biblical hell.  It is a geothermal area not far from from our hotel.  I have been there on a ship's tour as tour escort but tours are usually rushed so I was glad to visit the area with Paul at a more leisurely pace.  We were able to see the whole geothermal area for a change, rather than half of it - as has been the case.  There were hot springs, bubbling mud pots, hot steam vents and a sacred river, the river water being hot.  The area had a pungent and permeating smell of sulphur but once we got to the river area where there was plenty of trees - the sulphur smell disappeared.  The trees absorbed the smell and their trunks and branches had turned an orange/rusty colour over time.

After our walk around the geothermal area we went to the mud spa area.  We smeared ourselves in sulphurous mud and soaked in a hot spring pool for a bit (this part was timed for about 20 minutes per session).  After that we rinsed off the mud and went to another hot spring pool and relaxed until it was time to dry off and go for our massage.  The therapists were good - no pain, no gain - ironing out any muscle knots in our backs and legs.  But it was worth it.  Painful but we felt very relaxed and tired afterwards.


We headed in a meandering manner to our next lodgings, Rotorua Farm Stay which is just over half an hour drive in south-westerly direction from Rotorua.  Unfortunately we overshot the farm because the GPS on the satnav was accurate but not quite accurate enough.  We turned around, used another satnav programme and found the farm which is, I gather, more of a smallholding rather than a large farm with a horse, a few sheep, cockerels and hens with their chicks, ducks and a dog.

Our host warmly welcomed us, as did her young son, and showed us to our room and offered to show us around the property.  It was getting late and we were very tired so we declined and will maybe take up her offer another day.  Our host's husband arrived home from work a bit later on and we were able to meet him before we headed to bed.

Although we have showered, we stink of sulphur.  It will take a while for it make its way out of our skin.  Oh well.

Tomorrow is another day.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Panoramic view

Panoramic view

Having got all muddied in the sulphur mud spa and then nearly finished
washing it off, Paul realised that the video camera had been pointing in the
wrong direction... He's not trying to hide anything with his hand, just adjusting
the camera for a bit of video footage.

Hot spring pool to relax in with a good view of the geothermal area