Last Posting!

Jean writes:

We're home now after a wonderful two months.  

It seemed "normal" to be at an airport (Dubai) and on the move - but here we are back in FOG.

We said a fond farewell to Marie, Craig and Harris on Thursday​ morning - but should be with​ them in the not-too-distant future at Dave's 70th birthday gathering so won't have to wait too long before seeing them again.  

We took coffee on Thursday​ morning at one of the "Baker & Spice" cafes, a favourite of Marie's, beside the fountains.  Although they weren't in operation, the maintenance guys were.  I believe they are out every morning in the lake, tweaking things or giving major repairs if nec​essa​r​y.  I counted twenty of them and is a conservative estimate.  Some of them are divers in wetsuits who have to descend to the jets on the bottom.  

The flight back went without incident and we arrived back at Gatwick on time, to be greeted by Ian, who kindly met us and transported us home - a definite improvement 

​o​n waiting for the train!  Thank you Ian.

​I can't reduce my highlights down from thirty to ten, so won't post them here!  ​Suffice it to say that it's a mixture of landscapes, wildlife, views, people, buildings, gardens and sports.

Super finale

Dave writes:

Italian restaurant overlooking the fabulous Water Fountain in Dubai was a dazzling way to mark the end our trip on Wednesday night.

Grandstand view of the half-hourly evening displays which are a visual and audio delight.

Our thanks to our brilliant Dubai hosts Marie and Craig - and young Harris, who slept through it all!

Writing this at Dubai airport with only my top 10 to follow and, cheating, I'm making it a top 12.

1. Bottle-feeding Harris
2. Halong Bay
3. Sydney - from 61 storeys up
4, New Zealand v Australia cricket at Hamilton
5. Ho Chi Minh tomb
6. Ferry crossing from Picton to Wellington
7. Running round lake in Hanoi
8. The Great Ocean road
9. Last night in Dubai by the Water Fountain
10. St Kilda
11. Hobbiton
12. Kaikoura

Dubai 3

Jean writes:

It was good to be able to have a swim this morning.  

Apart from the pool Marie uses and where Harris has his lessons (a fitness club), there are also "public" pools dotted around some residential areas where anyone living locally can turn up and swim.  The one we used is just a few minutes from the apartment, is at least twenty metres long and has loungers with palm trees for shade.  I swam twenty lengths, which 

was refreshing, although I was a little sluggish after a gap of about two weeks.

We took a taxi to the Old Dubai and, after a visit to the museum, took lunch at a cafe beside Dubai Creek, which separates Bur Dubai from Deira.  

We were slightly perplexed at the ingredients in Dave's Greek salad,  and even more so at the non-appearance of my Bourekas.  Eventually two dishes arrived and we realised the vegetables and pancakes had been starters provided on the house!  

The food was great, but we were a little disturbed by some people feeding the gulls, who squawked, squabbled and bullied each other every time something was thrown over on to the creek side.

Top of the charts

Dave writes:

I plan at the end of our trip tomorrow !! to put on the blog my top 10 of the last few weeks.

I'd made mine up a few days ago but a new entry has come straight in at number one.

Enter Bottle-feeding Harris.

I've not done such a task for well over 30 years when Marie and Chris were babes in arms.

Glad to repot the old magic is still there!

Museumed in again

And talking of top 10s, Lonely Planet makes the Dubai Museum in the old part of the town its number one so off we went.

Previous attack of museumoutedness (qv) now a thing of the past, we took a taxi and were dropped off outside.

It's in an old fort in fact with plenty of interest but some of the material and information from days of yore was down below and the narrative not greatly lit for my eyes at least.

Most fascinating though Is the dynamic rise of the city from the 50s and 60s into the wondrous economic powerhouse it has become.

Sport too with the world's richest horse race, the Dubai World Cup, on again at the end of the month.

Maybe I should stay on a bit longer!!

Dubai 2

Jean writes:

Three highlights for me today in a largely relaxed atmosphere today.

1. Watching Harris having his swimming lesson, which involved a fair Amount of dunking/dipping.  What a star!

2. Watching the Dubai Fountain on the Burj Khalifa Lake.  We saw them yesterday too, but today managed to position ourselves in a more advantageous location.  The fountain jets or "shooters" are choreographed to music so they sway and swirl appropriately twice in the middle of the day, and every half hour in the evening.   A great show.

3. Marie bought me an early Mothers' Day present, and what a present!  A pedicure and massage.  I came back to the flat fully relaxed with lovely painted toe nails.  

Dubai

Jean writes:

Had a low key day, just going out for brief walk and snack.

Took meal this evening at local sports bar, where Harris slept and someone else paid!

Dave writes:

Lovely day but stayed local after tiring flight.

Dubai as pristine as ever.

Dubai Arrival

Jean writes:

We left Auckland with some sadness as we hadn't seen enough of the city, but the flight to Sydney and then Dubai went without a hitch.  It was just rather long!  

The entertainment on Emirates is first class, though, and for once the person sitting in front of me on the plane did not recline her seat right back into my face! 

Arrival in Dubai was at 05:10 and we took a taxi to meet Marie at a hotel almost next to her flat.  

It's the first time we've seen this flat, and the balcony has a great view of the Burj Khalifa.  

Harris has grown a lot since we saw him in December and is, of course, a little poppet! 

Homeward bound

Dave writes:

Three-hour flip from Auckland to Sydney then 14 1/2 hours to Dubai on Emirates A380.

Great service as ever and time passed quite quickly thanks to five movies and two episodes of The West Wing.

In at 0515 and made it to Marie and Craig's an hour or so later.

They had got back only a few hours earlier from skiing/snowboarding in the Alps.

Harris looking super at breakfast before being taken out in warm sunshine. big contrast to the minus 10C of last week.




Sent from my iPhone

Botanic Garden - again!

Jean writes:

Always a good bet for us!

We had little time to see much of Auckland today so plumped for an attraction near us, and what a pleasure the Gardens were!

Lots of interesting sections: 

Native Plants

Perennials

Edible Garden

Threatened Plants

Palms

Rock Garden etc

Lovely combinations too, in terms of colours.

Just the right amount of information as far as I was concerned, as well.

For instance, I didn't know (or hadn't remembered!) that tea comes from a camellia plant, the Camellia Sinensis.

The Nikau is New Zealand's only native palm, and grows as far south as Akaroa.  

This is on the beautiful peninsula South and East of Christchurch which we visited and thoroughly enjoyed.  The fronds of the palm were once used as thatching material.  

Farewell NZ

Dave writes:

Last day of super trip in NZ.

Managed to fit in another Botanic Garden after spotting it was not far from our motel.

Returned car to Europcar at Auckland airport, remembering to take Ken with us. He's coming back to England where we hope to find work for him!

Currently in the airport lounge (my card accepted here) watching England's cricketers trying to
beat Sri Lanka.

Flying on to Sydney in a couple of hours en route to Dubai where we are set to arrive at 0515 local in the morning !

Shades of Birmingham

Jean writes:

We went for a drink in the centre of Auckland after the New Zealand v Australia match this evening.  

The match, by the way, was thoroughly absorbing, and we were delighted that any break in play, even a small one, was not used as an excuse to play snippets of (loud) music - as at the Saxton Oval.  There were some, of course, but at least the boundaries and wickets were marked with four blasts of flames as opposed to music.

Dave and I had got on different trains from Eden Park to the centre and I was waiting for him outside the Britomart station.  There was quite a police presence, which I put down to the cricket match, but actually, it might just have been trying to pre-empt any Saturday night high jinks. 

On our way back from the bar, we saw many scantily clad females, looking as though they'd filled up with booze before venturing out - very similar to our observations on Broad Street In Birmingham when we've been there for the All England badminton championships! 

It was also the first example of beggars on the street since we left Vietnam. 

Looking confident?

While waiting for Dave at the bus stops outside the main Auckland station, somebody approached and asked which stop was for Albert Park.  I explained that I was a visitor so didn't know, and she admitted that she was a local so was rather embarrassed!

Integrated Transport

We bought an AT HOP card for Auckland transport - train, bus and ferry.  We've only used it on the trains, but it seems to be an efficient way of paying for journeys and saves queuing up to buy single tickets which, incidentally, only last for two hours after purchase.  

No idea what AT HOP stands for!

The stations we've used are pretty modern.  We only wish we had longer to use the system to get us around to all the locations we've not been able to see in Auckland.  Another case (there must have been at least ten already!) of saying, "We'll have to do that next time we're here"!

Kaned!

Dave writes:

Privileged to be at one of cricket's greatest games with New Zealand edging Australia by one wicket in front of a capacity 80,000 crowd at Eden Park in Auckland.

A big six by Kane Williamson back over the bowler's head clinched a famous victory.

New Zealand had managed to bowl Australia out for just 151 and thanks to Brendon McCullum's half century looked to be coasting at 131-4.

But Mitchell Starc, highlighted in an earlier blog of mine!, took six for 28 to reduce the Kiwis to 146-9 only for Williamson who ended  on 45 not out, to close  it out in the best possible way.

Great match but if the two meet in the final - in Melbourne - my money is on Oz.

I don't think they'll bat as modestly again and their pace attack, with Starc at the top of his game, is very impressive.


Sent fr my iPhone
Sent from my iPhone

Penultimate Leg

Jean writes: 

We left Opua this morning with an appreciative glance down towards the bay and harbour.  

We have almost always been really lucky with our accommodation and environs throughout the trip.  For instance, here in North Island:

- two nights with friend Greg in Wellington + Botanic Garden + Weta Cave Workshop

- a night with his parents in Napier - Art Deco town

- Taupo, with the lovely lake & super sunset + Huka Falls & Craters of the Moon nearby

- Hamilton where dodgy weather didn't put us off & we enjoyed the Waikato River & gardens

- Arkles Bay - super B&B and wonderful secluded beaches

- Opua - small motel & individual attention + quiet & super scenically 

The drive southwards to Auckland was on the A1, which had lots of road works, minor and major, but it still only took a little more than four hours, even with a coffee stop, so no real problem until almost at our destination.  

Before our departure from the UK in January, we had booked up three quarters of our accommodation as we had been warned of possible problems with school holidays in January and we didn't really want to be spending too much time investigating while travelling.  The last section of NZ we booked from Australia, one at a time.  

Good job we did it all in advance as we've seen masses of "No Vacancy" signs, often throughout the town.  

One thing we've puzzled about in New Zealand has been the WOF signs outside garages, and wondered if they referred to something like an MOT.  We found out the other day - Warranty of Fitness.

 Hail Auckland

Dave writes:

Shades of Sydney for a while when Satnav Ken took us to a non-existent place on an industrial estate in Auckland.

Turns out there are two Great South Roads in the city and we had programmed in the wrong suburb.

20 minutes previously a severe hailstorm had struck as we came across the main bridge but Jean battled through.

All's well that ends well - and we are in no doubt where the airport is.

Planes flying low overhead every few minutes have confirmed we are just a few miles away.

We hand the hire car back there on Sunday as we fly out to DubaI, Marie, Craig and Harris.

Meanwhile, looking forward to meeting up downtown tonight with two old Reuters buddies here for the cricket World Cup.

As mentioned previously we have tickets tomorrow for Oz v NZ which is a huge deal over here.

Hoping hail stays away!

Bay of Islands, Dolphins and Limestone

Jean writes:

This afternoon's trip was on the Dolphin Seeker with the aim of doing just that and also seeing the Hole in the Rock on Motukokako or Piercy Island.  

I began by doing what Dave would call "A Mabs and Ron" as I took my seat on the top deck deck and right at the front.  Best viewing possible.  Actually, the only reason I managed that was because the front seats are in threes and one couple was already there.  Most other people were in twos or threes but, as I was on my own, I claimed the spare! 

The trip takes four hours and transports you right round the bay, starting from Paihia with the short hop across to Russell before going to the extremities of the bay at Motukokako Island, which has a lighthouse that "worked" until 1978.  

It is more famous, though for its typical limestone feature of an arch - known locally as the Hole in the Rock.  

The day was pretty calm, but not quite calm enough for the captain to attempt to steer the boat through the archway.  When he announced this there was a concerted groan from many of the passengers! 

Between Russell and Motukokako we stopped to view a pod of dolphins who performed magnificently.  There were over twenty of them, including at least one baby, and they leapt gracefully and played around the boat.  

We stopped at Urupukapuka Island on the return journey and were able to trek along some of the walkways.

On me bike again - for last time here

Dave writes:

Took noon ferry from Paihia to Russell in repeat of journey seven years ago.

15 minutes on a perfect day with time to walk round Russell,  though sidestepped the museum as we are both overcooked in that department at present.

Back to the mainland to collect bike the lady motel owner had kindly offered me free of charge.

Directed towards nearby special bike/walking trail which used to be the railway track linking the port with the interiior.

Great stuff but had to restrict length of ride on a hot afternoon and we're heading for Auckland tomorrow so biking finished down here.

Clubland

Back at the sailing club for a nightcap and to watch the sun go down on a wonderful, windless evening.

Few people there tonight as no racing on so I suspect they were glad of our business.

Nice of them to take in all and sundry though, especially as I am with Groucho Marx:

I wouldn't dream of joining a club that had me as a member.

Bay of Islands and Ruth

Opua is but a small settlement on the south coast of the bay, which has a short pebbly beach.  For this reason, although the marina is excellent for all kinds of boats, the beach does not attract tourists and we were able to have it pretty well to ourselves this morning.

Ruth loved the Bay of Islands and worked happily at one of the backpackers for quite a while.  

We scattered more of her ashes in the waters of the bay this morning.  

Coincidentally (?) a Monarch butterfly, similar to the one we saw while scattering Ruth's ashes at Manly with her friend Till, was fluttering in one of the pohutakawa trees there.  These butterflies are not uncommon but are very beautiful and therefore are a fantastic link to Ruth.

A Tale of Two Towns

After a fond farewell to Arkles Beach we headed off for Pukoi, less than half an hour away, also known as a Bohemian village in the rural Auckland area.  

The museum is the star of the show, and tells the story of Captain Martin Krippner, who founded the settlement, and invited others to join him.  Fifty one other adults, and thirty one children, arrived from Bohemia (now part of the Czech Republic) in1863.

In the middle of the nineteenth century there was general unrest in much of Europe and, at the same time, the Provincial Government was offering land to immigrants.  These pioneers had been used to wide expanses of farmland at home and really had little idea of what awaited them in their new country.  They found they had to clear thIck forest and try to drain the swampy areas.  Life was hard.

Krippner could speak English but the rest of the settlers could only speak German, so he did all of the negotiating necessary for acquiring a variety of infrastructure for the village.  Most of the settlers were also illiterate so he wrote letters for them, became the first postmaster and also set up a school for the children, becoming the first headmaster.  

The settlers were all Catholics and the church remains.

The museum has all kinds of records relating to the original settlers, their descendants, photos and artefacts illustrating the way of life that they brought with them.

Examples are the musical instruments, like the dudelsack.

The Thompson sewing machine and the articles made by the women.

The style of the classroom.

The numbers involved in felling trees and the timber industry - "rafting" the logs to Auckland.

The museum is run by volunteers, two of whom were most welcoming to Dave and me today.

Our second museum visit was at Waipu.  Again - very interesting, and also founded by a group of immigrants, this time from Scotland and led by Norman Macleod.  Unofficially he was a preacher and this, in addition to difficult economic conditions in Scotland, and harsh treatment by the landowners, led him to think about emigrating.

Judge Halibrton said of him, "Norman Macleod had complete belief In his own interpretation of God's word."  "He ridiculed his enemies and claimed That there were no true ministers of God in The entire Church of Scotland."  "Outside his community he was often regarded with derision."

He and his group arrived in New Zealand by a circuitous route via Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island and Melbourne, before landing in Waipu.  

The town has a distinctly Scottish flavour, even now, and boasts the largest Highland Games in the Southern Hemisphere.  It is always held on 1st January, unless that is a Sunday, and 2015 was its one hundred and forty fourth.  

There is even an official Waipu tartan.

Both museums were fantastic - but Dave and I agreed we were "museum-ed out" and our brains couldn't take any more!

Relieved

On a completely different note, and returning to the subject of toilets, we visited the public toilets at Kawakawa, not far from Opua, our base for two days, but almost missed out as we failed to take the correct turning to the town centre.  

We were relieved to come upon them.

You may feel that we have relied on this subject too heavily over the past few weeks, but I couldn't resist this particular example.  It was built by Friedensreich Hundertwasser, apparently an internationally regarded architect.  He was an Austrian who came to New Zealand in the 1970s and decided to settle down on a farm near Opua.  He was commissioned to design the toilets, which turned out to be his last creation.

Would you recognise the following exterior as being a toilet block?

The interior is even better.

Books and boats

Dave writes:

Spent sunny 20 minutes by Arkles Bay before leaving the peninsula and heading north for Opua,  the penultimate stop on our New Zealand leg.

Diverted into the historic township of Puhoi and happened on its delightful public library.

It's  not much more than a small hut, around 10 metres by 5, serving the local populace.

But it still features on the front cover of that bestseller of some years back "New Zealand's Smallest Libraries."

Remains in print, I was told.

It's the smallest library still in service so it deserves a big shout-out as they say over here.

Glad to report that all the lending is done on the old-fashioned card system with borrowing detail neatly tucked away in filing cabinets.

Only real problem is flooding from nearby river but with enough warning they can move all the books to safety.

A real gem of a place and I bought one of the books they had outside for sale - for just 50 p !

Big bonus at Opua tonight is free membership for visitors at the local sailing club with its superb views over the water.

Enjoyed dinner/wine looking out from the clubhouse balcony with nobody seemingly bothered we were tourists, or worse still, Brits.

 

Birds Galore

Jean writes:

The morning was devoted to Shakespear Regional Park.  It's located at the tip of the Whangaparaoa Peninsula, about twenty minutes from our present base and is a mixture of bays, cliffs, wetlands, grassland, forest and farmland.

Rangers and volunteers have been creating a wildlife sanctuary within the Park since 2003 and have been able to rid the area of predators and pests - stoats, weasels, possums, rabbits, hedgehogs, wild cats, rats and mice.  A pest proof fence prevents them from returning, and it was through carefully constructed double gates that we entered.  

There is a track through a native forest which is regenerating and, as twitchers, we made our way part-way along it.  We saw a variety of birds, but only managed to identify a small number: 

Welcome Swallow

Eastern Rosella

Tui

The first time I heard the word "tui" was at the cricket match at the Saxton Oval, as it Is a brand of beer - and one of the main sponsors of the ODI World Cup.  I soon realised it took its name from the bird, which is the largest of the honeyeaters in New Zealand.  

I was delighted to see the bird today as it's been on my mental list to "spot" since I realised it how common it is in New Zealand. 

There were plenty of other bird sightings today, on the beach, in the trees and on grass, including five peahens and baby.  

I was rather taken by the toilets (I don't think we've mentioned toilets since Vietnam!) at Stanmore Bay, with the kowhai flowers.  Coincidentally tuis love them and burrow inside to reach the nectar.  Kowhai means yellow in Maori.

Plenty of Bays

Dave writes:

Our latest accommodation, as previously mentioned, is close to Arkles Bay which is one of many on this particular peninsula.

We found today as we drove around they all had their own particular charm and character.

From some vantage points it's possible to see three different bays at once.

But when push came to shove our vote for favourite went to Arkles, the smallest and most peaceful.

Nothing at all to do with the great racehorse, I can assure you. 

More scenic delights in store tomorrow as we head north to Opua  - and the Bay of Islands.

Glorious Morning

The morning was spent in Hamilton and the sun shone during our walk by the river where the  morning glory flowers graced the banks in profusion.

The river is the Waikato, the longest in New Zealand at 425 kilometres, which starts in Mount Ruapehu and enters Lake Taupo.  We followed its path away from the lake to the Huka Falls a couple of days ago, and it's very different there from the river running at Hamilton through the Waikato Plain - broad, relatively shallow (at least near the banks) but still flowing at a fair pace. 

The river has also given its name to the district and many of the local sports teams have taken the name.  

Several towns/cities have "public" pianos in the street where anyone can sit down and start to play.  We saw our first in Napier, but there was another in Hamilton today.  It seems a Brit from Essex Played one in Pahia and a clip was put on The Internet which "went viral" and now he hopes to establish a musical career.  Unfortunately I only managed to get a "still" of Dave!

We arrived in Arkles Bay this evening and the accommodation is super - thee rooms really, plus bathroom/toilet.  We're used to having one.  Not only that, but the facilities are definitely up to scratch, and a great deal of care has been taken with the decor.  Add to that the bottle of wine, the chocolates, biscuits and coffee machine, and we're delighted.  

Glorious evening too, as we viewed the unspoilt bay, before going out for a meal to celebrate the acquisition of my additional pension lump sum.

Beyond Our Ken

Dave writes:

We've been waiting for our Satnav pal Ken to screw up so we could produce the headline above and today looked like it.

Driving out of Hamilton he appeared to be taking us south towards Rotorua instead of north to Auckland and beyond.

But a double check proved him right and we had to apologise.

Then, 30 minutes from our destination of the day by Arkles Bay, signs told of a motorway ahead, with a toll.

We felt Ken might have warned us but did the necessary at a pay machine in a service area.

However, on re-joining the road we noticed the motorway was still six kms up the road and our turnoff for Arkles Bay was three kms before that.

So Ken was right again and the headline does not really stand up.

But as they used to say: "Print the legend."

On me bike again

Our latest accommodation is splendid though to call it Beach House is stretching things a bit.

However, many pluses include a welcome bottle of wine and free use of one of their two bikes.

I hopped on one of them and discovered the beach four minutes ride away.

It's part of Arkles Bay, a lovely, unspoilt spot where we plan to walk later.

Cricket Display

We had started our second and final day in Hamilton with visits to the museum and adjacent art gallery.

Museum currently mounting a cricket exhibition as the city is hosting three World Cup matches.

Next up is Ireland v India on March 10. Tough one for the Irish.

On display at the museum is the ball used in Hamilton's first international match back in 1981 as well as some excellent archive material.

Also learnt that Kiwi stalwart Daniel Vettori is a Hamiton lad.

Relief to learn later in the day that England had managed to labour past Scotland.

Hobbiton

Jean writes:

In Wellington we saw the fruits of the Weta Cave for, amongst other films, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, in the workshop. This afternoon we visited the hobbit holes of the Shire.

The whole set was built for the opening scene of Lord of the Rings, when Gandalf visited Bilbo.  The site was on Alexander Farm, a sheep and cattle rearing farm near Matamata, and one of the clauses of the contract stated that the whole area would be returned to its original condition once filming was over, so the thirty seven homes were very much of a temporary nature, built from untreated timber, ply and polystyrene.  Dismantling began, but there was a terrible storm and work had to stop.  It was agreed to leave it for three months, and by this time, the first film had been such a success that people started to turn up asking to see the set.  It became clear that it was worthwhile saving.  

When Peter Jackson returned to make the Hobbit series, he needed the same set for the Shire scenes, but this time the agreement was that the hobbit holes/houses would be permanent.  

After filming was complete, Alexander set up a tourist business based on the hobbit homes in the Shire.  

That is what we saw today, Bag End and the homes of the the bee keeper, the cheese maker, the carpenter and all of the others, along with the Green Dragon Inn, the gardens, the scarecrows, the lake, the water mill, the wood carver and the tools of everyday life.

Each small detail had to be right as far as Jackson was concerned.  There were no oak trees at the farm so the tree above Bag End was cut down elsewhere, brought in and re-assembled on the site, the leaves apparently being brought in from Taiwan.  This tree (in a sorry state!) was removed after filming.  When the Hobbit films were made, a new tree had to be acquired - this time, completely fake - and is still there!  The story goes that Peter Jackson said the leaf colours weren't right so they all had to be individually repainted!

Great trip!

Doing a Mabs and Ron

Dave writes:

Jean's Auntie Mabs and Uncle Ron travelled widely on coach tours for many years and were dab hands at getting the front two seats.

It became a point of honour and if memory serves one coach driver even invited them to his retirement party !

So I was pleased to align myself neatly enough to grab the front two places on the Hobbiton coach taking us from Matamata for our three-hour afternoon adventure.

However, I had failed to understand that the coach was only taking us the 20 minute drive to the Hobbit set and the rest was on foot round the Hobbit Holes etc.

As it happened it was a bit of a relief as the drive was a hairy one in places with the most dangerous seeming more so from the front seats !

Could not resist later watching The Hobbit movie which happens to be one of 160 available on TV in our motel room.

Cast (and credits) of thousands includes Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch.
----
Park view

Hamilton is noted for its parks and we walked round the Memorial one in the morning.

Oddly there were not that many other people around. Maybe the others are more appealing.

May find out more when we look round city centre tomorrow.

Museum and local art gallery already on the agenda.

Splashing and steaming

Jean writes:

We had visited the Huka Falls last time we were in Taupo and recalled it as being memorable so, after stopping off at Art in the Park, near our motel, we set off the few kilometres to the Falls.  

The Waikato River is the longest in New Zealand and begins its journey to the sea South of Auckland in Lake Taupo.  The river cut deeply into the hard layers of rock North of Taupo creating a narrow channel, through which the water of the falls rushes, before the softer rocks beyond, which have been more easily eroded, allowing the river to widen and become deeper.  

The water is very clear, which gives it a blue colour, except where the air bubbles, caused by the rushing water, make it look white.  

220,000 litres of water plunge over the falls every second!

It's a beautiful sight, both above and below the falls, but the water is also useful, and not just in the tourist sense.  The Waikato river system supplies nine hydro electric power stations.  

We saw some jet boats giving tourists a thrill as they get as close as possible to the dangerous undertow caused by the plunging water.  That was par for the course really, but we were surprised to see three swans swimming serenely in the river just downstream of the falls.

Second planned stop of the day was at the Craters of the Moon, an active part of this geothermal area.  A walkway has been built around it, with "viewing" points to show off the craters, bubbling pools, steam vents, colourful soils and mud pools.  

The blurb indicates that it should take about forty five minutes, but we took nearer to two hours.  There's the geography teacher again!

This area is part of a much larger geothermal region, but came into being (more-to-less as it is today) in the 1950s when a nearby power station lowered underground water levels considerably.  The remaining water boiled more violently, producing more steam.  Large amounts of this steam escaped at Craters of the Moon, as it became known.  

Much of the plant life is specially adapted to the hot conditions and concentrated minerals here.

At one point I took the "high road", around the crater rim, while Dave took the "low road"!

Fantastic views.  

Breaking news

Dave writes:

Ran round part of beautiful Lake Taupo with extra spring in step as I've managed to get an entry for the annual Great Newham 10 k run on July 17.

It winds through Olympic Park in east London in the borough of Newham and in 2014 ended by the Olympic Stadium.

But this year with the stadium conversion work complete the finish will be in the arena itself.

I'm allowed two supporters up in the stands as I enter the stadium graced by such fellow athletes as Mo Farah, Usain Bolt etc etc!!