So we left the Coromandel Peninsula and decided to head inland for some hot springs. So we headed to Rotorua, one of the most active volcanic regions in the world. Its potent sulfur pools surrounding the area of Rotorua allow you to smell it before you get there. Right off the bat we took a nice smelly walk around the town. Lake Rotorua is at the edge of town and the lake is outlined with yellow sulphur vents and interpretive plaques explaining what's beneath your feet.
We were feeling a bit restless, like we needed some exercise since driving around in Frenchy isn't physically too hard. So we hired some mountain bikes and had a go at there mountain bike park which was ironically in a California Redwood Forest. We got a workout, Eugene rallied his bike like and old pro, and I fell over a couple of times but had a great time. All the tracks had names and my favorite run was called it'd be rude not to. We decided that we deserved a soak in some hot springs so we went to a very nice campground equipped with its own hot springs. There we met two Maori dudes who both had PHD's in some kind of exercise and health field and they offered to take us into the Bush, so we went, it'd be rude not to. They told us about the Maori way of life and showed us around the Native Bush in the majestic Te Urewera National Park. They went deer hunting via mountain bike while we tromped around on foot through the mud. They gave us a GPS device in case we got lost, we didn't know how to work it though.
The next day we drove to Wai-O-Tapu where we oohed and awed at the bubbling mud pools, lakes of varying temperatures each with a different shade of color, pits of steam, and a burbling geyser. Later that same day we booked the chance to bathe in a bubbly mud pool at a place called Hells Gate!! We covered ourselves in mud and then soaked in their sulphur spa and got the whole place to ourselves! We camped overnight in there parking lot and in the morning we got a scolding by the Security Guard but when Eugene said we were from California he said we could stay as long as we liked. We had a great time in Rotorua.
After Rotorua we went back towards the beach and contemplated which route to take to get to the East side of the North Island. Do we take the long way via a scenic gorge or do we take the long way along the coast over to the East Cape? We figured they were both long, so we went for the longest route along what they call the East Cape where not too many people go. We thought well we went to the far North Cape so we might as well go to the far East Cape. We freedom camped along the way at beaches where nobody was anywhere in sight, we had a lot of alone time! Eventually we made it to the East Cape lighthouse, yippy! We then slowly drove South to Gisborne, they call it Gizzy for short. Once in Gizzy we wanted more exercise and less driving, so we went surfing for a day. Eugene bought another board, a much bigger one its called a Big Guy Nugget and its awesome. After checking the surf report for the upcoming week it looked good so we decided to stay longer so we called around people to see if they needed Woofers to do work exchange. To get some more social interaction in our lives. We ended up with a nice elderly couple on a citrus farm with some cattle, horses, chickens, dogs, and cats. We worked four to six hours a day for housing and food and it wasn't too bad. It was only bad when America beat team NZ at the America's Cup, the couple punished us by feeding us rooster. For work we picked mandarins for hours, cut down trees with a chainsaw, shoveled dirt, made a planter box and even had tea breaks with biscuits. We planned another work exchange in two weeks at an Organic Brewery and hopefully we will get paid in Beer! Stay tuned...
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