Today we were supposed to be doing the White Island volcano tour, but because a cyclone was on it’s way the weather wasn’t safe for the tour to run so Amy found a few other things for us to do instead. She had found a privately owned geothermal park called Orakei Korako that was less than an hour from town so we had some breakfast at the nearby cafe and made our way over.
Once we arrived there was a small building with a cafe where we had to go to buy boat tickets to cross the water over to the main attraction. In the car park there was a vent with steam coming out of it and the shore line was pretty nice too. You could see steam coming from the water and out in the distance, it was pretty nice to look at. I ended up taking the drone out for a quick fly around.
We got our tickets and boarded the boat. Once we were over there it was pretty easy to get around. There was an easy to follow path that led past the steaming pools and up the mountain, all we had to do was follow the path and read the signs along the way.
Right near the entry was a distant view of a geyser and we arrived at the perfect time to see it expel some water and steam. This one wasn’t as impressive as some of the other ones in the area but it was completely natural where as at some tourist sights they actually trigger the geyser with chemicals to make it erupt.
It was pretty cool to think all this had naturally formed over time. From here we caught the boat back to our car and headed back to town where we met up with Anthony’s parents for lunch.
For lunch we stopped at a place called CBK in “Eat Streat”. CBK stoof for Craft Beer Kitchen, so naturally we had to have a beer. They had a sampling deal where you get four different beers to try. This came in handy because it took a really long time to get any food!
From here, we wanted to take a quick stop by the lake to see just how bad the flooding had been due to this bad weather than cancelled our tour today and it was definitely over flowing! After a quick photo or two we piled back in to the car and went back to the hotel.
Amy had very kindly asked me to be her “man of honor” and as such it is my responsibility to organise a hens night. Luckily for me this didn’t involve male strippers but she was keen on going to the Polynesian Day Spa so Amy, Madi and I went there while the rest of the boys went to go see Fast and the Furious (which I didn’t mind missing anyway).
The spa was really nice, they had a bunch of different pools of varying temperatures and scenery. Even though it was getting a bit dark the view of the lake while soaking in the hot mineral water, surrounded by greenery was pretty relaxing and definitely beats watching Fast and the Furious! It was actually pretty affordable too at about $50 per person including towel and locker hire.
After a good soak we headed back to the hotel. There is something about hot water that makes you sleepy so it wasn’t long before I was fast asleep!