Winter 2019 - NZ10 Rotorua to Hawkes Bay

NZ10   Rotorua to Hawkes Bay

Lake Taupo

Today’s trip was about 300 km long. After yesterday’s split group ride when Carol followed the van and I rode the shore line, we both decided to follow Fred today. Especially since at the end of the ride we, the total group, would split up for the night and stay at various homesteads (farms). While the headline on our tour ‘brochure' spelled out Hawkes Bay, in reality we headed towards Taupo. Taupo is a large lake almost in the center of the North Island of NZ. The lake is a water filled caldera of an old volcano. It’s huge and deep.

Mud Pool

And the old volcano is still bubbling right under the lake, still cooks the grounds below us. There are many mud pools, super-heated from below, all around this lake. We visited a mud pool, the mud is grayish, and consists of fluid ashes bubbling away with steam rising out of the earth; with bubbles amidst the mud. The area was all fenced off because the mud in this spot is so hot it would scald anyone trying to enter it, or even get near it. Even animals avoid this spot, but it feels very primeval to see the earth’s power.

(L) Side of the Geothermal Power Plant

There are many hot springs around and there is even the world’s largest Geothermal Power Plant creating electric power from steam captured from the active steam just below the surface. 

We made a stop on a hill over-looking the Wairakei Geothermal Power Plant, one of a few such plants in NZ, and the schematic numbers we saw on the plaques placed near this overlook were amazing. Over 200 million watts are produced here, near Wairakei, near Lake Taupo. 

(R) Side of the Geothermal Power Plant

Large Loops in the Pipes Allow Steam Expansion (and Vehicles to Pass Underneath

The earth’s crust below us is thin; the heat needed to generate this power is just about 600 meters below us.  It feels kind of weird standing right above this source of super heated steam, standing over the center of a volcano below us.

The lake, Lake Taupo, is fed by rivers, rain, snow and runoffs. Fishermen prize these waters for the abundance of fish, especially trout. 

Huka Falls

On the north side of the lake are the famous Huka Falls. This waterfall pours out of the lake and the current is so strong that no ship can navigate this narrow sluice channel. The waters are crystal clear and this spot is a very popular tourist meeting place. We had a bit of a difficult time parking our bikes, it was that crowded. 

Huka Falls

It was a busy day today. 

We never went near the town of Napier. Fred said the traffic around Napier is so bad; he tries to avoid it at all cost. Hmmm, so why is it listed as a destination?

Napier in 1931 was the center of an earthquake. The harbor floor, the bottom of the sea was pushed up above sea level during the quake. The power of the quake was so great that a grave digger, digging in a 6-foot hole nearby, was lifted straight out of the grave. A passerby, fearing the shaking and clinging to something near the cemetery, saw this man rise from below ground, clad only in shorts (it was a hot day). The passerby fainted, believing the Apocalypse had started and the dead were rising from their graves. 

But we never saw any of this; Napier today must be a busy place and a place to be avoided, according to Fred. I guess Fred is not into Art Deco Architecture, since Napier was rebuilt in 1931 with mainly this style of housing.

Part of Our Tour Group on Te Mata Peak

On the way today we passed a very large area of ‘planted' forests. During the depression in the 1930’s men were kept occupied and busy planting these trees. It was similar to the work program of the U.S. or other countries where the Government gave the people civic duties so that they had at least some income during the depression. This forest (Kaingaroa) was planted using trees from the Earth’s Northern Hemisphere. To everybody’s surprise the trees grew extremely well. Their growth was two to seven times faster than normal. The work of the 1930’s pays great dividends today. 90% of the domestic use of wood can be handled from these once planted trees. 

Searching the internet, I found that this forest holds some secrets, too.

The Kaingaroa Cave Carvings sure are one of them. Who did these carvings?  Not the Maori, so is all we know about NZ history really correct?

Here is a story about another secret:  

You can hear the oral tradition of the Maori at work.  The names are hard to follow I know, but it’s interesting to me how those long names are spoken. 

And here is a very impressive kind of ‘proof ‘that what I write is just what I am told. So maybe the year 1250 AD as the beginning of Humans on NZ is all wrong?  Well, what do YOU think after seeing this report?