We've been tripping around the country starting with the North Island which was a hasty change due to rubbish weather down south. The kayaking in Te Anau and Fox Glacier will have to wait.
Firstly, finally had a reasonable day to wander out to Makara. Walked around parts of the Skyline Walkway before heading to Makara Beach. Climbed up the surprisingly steep hill that is the start of the Makara Walkway for some lovely views of the water.
Westwind Farm
Moved on to Rotorua for a camping holiday although unfortunately the weather wasn't good enough for kayaking either! However we finally got out on some of the tracks we'd been keen to do.
Out of Kawarau via the forestry track is the access to the Tarawera Falls. We took the longer Tarawera Outlet walk which was 2 1/2 hours return including time for photos and gawking at the falls. There is a 20 minute option although I don't know why you'd bother... There had been a lot of rain in Rotorua and the river volume and size of the boulders that had come down taking out some of the path was impressive! The Tarawera River goes underneath the rock and plunges 65 metres down a sheer cliff as the Tarawera Falls - swimming options in the river are limited unless you want to be sucked into the rocks to a watery grave! The walk was worth it - beautiful views and the falls were fantastic.
The Tarawera River - the river was really high meaning that the level changes looked great:
The forest was pretty cool...
Rockfall on the path - one of the alternate routes had been closed due to the river level taking out the bridges!
Where's Wally?
Wasn't kidding about the swimming...
Tarawera Falls
Although we'd hoped to kayak the next day on Lake Okataina, it was not to be so we headed out to Rotokakahi/Green Lake. This lake is privately owned and considered sacred and used to be closed to the public. There is now a dodgy forestry road to access the lake and local walks. We managed to find an even dodgier one that lead to a 9 point turn too :)
And then a lovely walk through one of the tracks in The Redwoods, Whakarewarewa forest. This is such a must-see part of Rotorua - free walking and mountain biking tracks of all grades through beautiful mature trees. We chose the Pohaturoa Track that climbs up behind Whakarewarewa giving views of Rotorua and Pohutu geyser - a 2 hour round trip.
Whakarewarewa
Pohutu Geyser
Natural retaining on the cliff!
Overall? A nice trip, shame some things were ruined by the weather - NZ hasn't had summer this year that's for damn sure. Rotorua looked pretty alive too.
Righto, off down south next week!
The Rose
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