New Zealand on a Very Tight Budget Day 25

We awoke to……. Heavy Rain! Which continued until about 10.30am then it stopped the sun came out and that was that!
We’ve had a great day starting with a stroll round the Redwood Grove planted 120 years ago and doing very nicely. Although these are nowhere as impressive as their Californian cousins the under-croft of tree fern made it seem very exotic and one of the best bits was a crystal clear pool where nothing seemed to have decayed. The toilets were pretty good too.
From there we drove to the Green and Blue Lakes Look Out which delivered but far more impressive was the overview of Lake Tarawera. It’s not just the setting but the story is pretty jaw dropping too. Lake Tarawera was the site of the acknowledged Eighth Wonder of the Natural World. The Pink and White Terraces. Massive (really, really big) fan like terraces of silica like huge waterfalls of ice cream. There are photographs of them but the paintings are more evocative. All destroyed when Mount Tarawera erupted on the morning of 10 June 1886. Three Maori villages were destroyed and 153 people died. There was a massive outpouring of national grief for the loss of life and the loss of a way of life for the communities which supported the burgeoning tourist industry to the terraces and the survivors were given land and supported by Maori communities to the north. We had lunch on the amazingly peaceful shores of the lake, it seemed very poignant.
In the afternoon we tackled The Rainbow Mountain. Which lived up to its name with pink, orange, red and cream rocks and green and blue lakes. A stiff 3.5k 300 metre climb to have a fantastic 360 degree view of the landscape to the south of Rotorua. Vast forests, distant mountain and glistening lakes – and the gaping mouth of the crater of Mount Tarewera looking empty for all it had comsumed!
There was also very little steam to be seen – the warmer air temperature seemed to have vanished it all away.
Back at the campsite we had a gloriously sunny soak in the very quiet warm pools (it is Monday) and another atmospheric walk up to the spring.