The sun finally returned.
It was warm in this spot, with all the steam surrounding us.
Trying to get a picture of the bubbling mud
There is bubbling mud in there somewhere
A wet flower
This tourist got caught in the rain with us.
Notice the storm right over her shoulder.
Dalia
Jazz running down the road.
Flax bush
A Morning Glory
The waters just before entering the gorge
The falls
Top of the falls.
A view of after the falls. Notice how dark the water gets.
And a view of it's exit.
A view of the rivers entry
We could have gone on a helicopter tour.
I got fairly used to driving on the left, but oncomming traffic on a right turn still gave me a fright.
Even more scenery
An interesting mural.
The storm.
Mount Maunganui
The view leaving Toa's house.
Ah! There's the secret.
Toa seems to have gained in stature!
Canna Lily
Toa's house.
A Brandy snap
A Koromiko
A Fuscia plant in Toa's yard.We woke bright and early, well early for us and had coffee, tea and toast with Toa and Blondie while Jazz went and visited with his Mum. Blondie had to go to work, but Toa stayed behind to see us off. We left Tauranga headed for Taupo but as we crossed the Kaimai Range, we saw storm clouds ahead. It was actually very neat to drop down off the range and into the lowlands watching the storm approach. This time we were prepared! I tucked the hoodie into my raincoat, and had purchased some goggles in Rotorua. We stopped and geared up at the first hint of moisture, and I was quite comfortable when the rain hit. The goggles worked famously, no fogging up and I could see quite clearly! With the hoodie hidden, it didn't wick water under the rain gear. Live and learn, but learn from my mistake. If you are going somewhere to do a lot of riding, take your gear. It is only a small hassle to pack one more bag to take with you. I have gathered all the gear I need to ride comfortably in any weather conditions and it did me zero good sitting in Colorado.
We rode thru the storm in short order. Jazz told us that the clouds cross New Zealand until they bump into the Range, where they drop all their water. We stopped along the way at Huka Falls, where we shed our rain gear. Huka Falls is a very spectacular tourist destination where a large river is squeezed between two rock walls and then shoots out over a significant drop to a very large pool. The most amazing thing is the color of the water! It's a very suprising light blue color, until it's motion slows, then it turns into a very deep green. Of course the whole area is covered in lush New Zealand foliage, so it's very beautiful.
After Huka Falls, we crossed the main road and went to Craters of The Moon. This area is rife with geothermic activity. There are craters, geysers, and fumaroles with a nice wooden walkway to tramp about on. The unfortunate thing was the rain storm that rolled in while we were wandering the park. It came upon us, and dropped a torrential amount of rain, all in a matter of minutes. All our gear was back with the bikes, of course, so we got drenched. Again. The rain didn't last long, so we continued our tour of the park. Once back at the bikes we considered changing, but the sun was back out, and our planned lunch stop was 20 minutes away in Taupo, so we just rode on and hoped to dry out on the way. Once in Taupo, we stopped at a Cafe called Friends and had lunch near the lake side. We draped our wet gear all over the motorcycles to dry in the sun, it looked like the bikes were expensive clothes lines.
After lunch we got back on the road to Palmerston North. The remainder of the ride was uneventful, tho very beautiful. It threatened to rain on us but we lucked out and rode between the storms. As we neared home, the sun came out so Jazz took a very scenic detour. We arrived around 7pm and had a late dinner, then spend the evening filling Rosie in on our adventures.
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