Feb 3-4: Waterfalls and thermal features

After a day "off" in Auckland, we hit the road again in our van and headed tp Warier Falls, a beautiful forest hike.

These little ferns were curled up on the sides of trees.

Here they are on the side of the tree.

A beautiful native plant bears these cool purple "ink berries."  Not for eating.

The trail was quite rocky and steep and one of our new group members fell backwards onto Dirk and tore a bunch of skin off her arm.  Guide, Luke, bandaged it but it needed further attention later in the hotel room by doctor Dirk.

 

We hiked slowly with the injured patient the rest of the hike.

Only made it to the observation platform and not the top, where one can frolic and look at the view.

Our dinners were very delicious and elegant but grossly lacking in starch.  Usually just eat a big dessert to get the carbs.

Each member of our group was assigned to take a photo with our mascot, RuRu the Owl, somewhere cool.  This is by Lake Rotorua.  Our hotel was right by the Polynesian Spa, where we enjoyed 40 minutes of geothermal pool hopping under the night sky by the lake.

On Day 8 we headed to Rainbow Falls. From the hike up (all hikes seem to go UP), we can see the stands of pine tree farming that are in very obtrusive patches scattered about.

Three kinds of tree ferns grace the forests. The cicadas here were deafening!

Rainbow mountain is colored by minerals and characterized by steam vents and below a turquoise lake.

At the top was a look out tower very reminiscent of all the fire lookouts in Washington and the US West.

Okere Falls was a short but rewarding hike where we watched rafters shoot through these narrow falls.

The terrain of the country on North Island is ungently rolling hills with miscellaneous. mountains interspersed.

Highlight of Day 8 was going to the Te Puia cultural center of Te Arawa Maori tribe where we had a dinner cooked in a hang (pit oven), watched a Maori dance, singing, poi, and stick performance, and then watched a geyser erupt while sipping hot cocoa!  A triple header!!!

The dinner was just regular food---not really traditional---just cooked that way.

The poi balls are spinning too fast to see well but these women spun short poi and later long poi and Dixie was taking notes.

The were also pros at tossing and clicking short sticks. The men did fearsome long stick dances.

Boardwalks lead us out to the geothermal area.

We waited for the featured geyser to erupt, which it does every 30 minutes.

It performed with the lovely twilight sky behind it!