2nd March

Napier buildings are "Art deco" style apparently

From Napier we travelled towards Lake Taupo and the geothermal fault line beyond. Before we did so there was time to get a quick walk around Napier taking in the Art Deco architecture and a very swift visit to the Opposum World, located overlooking the promenade. Which was a hilarious museum styled shop with stuffed possums looking evil and poised to attack people - presumably if they chose not to buy a pair of gloves or sweater.

Once on the road we headed up and up and slightly inland. We got spectacular views out to sea as we went. Every so often the cloud lifted to reveal yet more. 

We were driving through logging country and at every awful bend it seemed we were presented with a two trailer lorry laden with enormous logs hurtling along at break neck speeds. We pulled off halfway to stop and take in the view, to give Paul a little break and my nerves a rest - no time for a cup of tea though! However, it gave us a chance to read up a little on our destination and so gave us a target of reaching the Aratiatia Dam in time for the flood gates to be released.

We got to the Dam with time to spare - we had twenty minutes until the alarm was sounded so we set about finding a good spot to wait. Really it was one side of the bridge or the other but you have to prepare for these things! So armed with a camera each, a tripod and no-body in site for miles we waited. 

At five minutes to go a whole army of people descended on us - seeing that we had chosen a spot - they made a be-line for where we stood - typical some might say. Not us - we decided to move around, thinking we had a few more minutes - then it was all guns blazing - the alarm sounded, the dam was lifted and torrents of water came cascading down.

I cannot believe just how quickly that water rose. It was astounding. 

The water is released several times throughout the day as part of a hydro-electricity process, it also provides white water rapids further down the stream for those wanting an adrenalin adjustment. We were captivated for over half an hour and slowly the gates began to close, allowing the surrounding bird life to settle back down.

the aptly named 'Craters of the moon'

After such excitement we made a little mistake and instead of visiting the hydro-electricity and geothermal energy centres we took a wrong turning and ended up visiting someone's back garden adjacent - we think that the majority of steam that was produced in this garden was due to a leaky pipe and a historic build up of sulphur crystals in geysers that no longer function - it was very interesting though, if a little pricey.

We retraced our route and managed to just get into the Crater's of the Moon visitor centre - a geothermal hive of activity, before the gates were closed.

This place was amazing.The heat coming from the ground in places was unbearable - as was the stench of sulphur. I would love to go again in the winter though.

When it was time to go we headed for a DOC site at Lake Rerewhakaaitu which was six dollars a night and you could stay for up to two weeks, plus if you had a boat you could use it on the lake too. Sadly, we only stayed for the night but it was beautiful and you could chose where you wanted to park without any hassle.