08.09.06
Day6 Taupo or bust!!!
Sun decided to make an appearance 
as we hit the road bound for Taupo via some more sites of geo thermal interest for Miss Intrepid Geog/Geologist here! 
First stop the Wai -O- Tapu thermal wonderland – complete with perfoming geyser (10.15a.m. daily!!!! 
) here you actually get to walk over some real life unstable ground!!!!
The colours are amazing – and so is the steam!
Wai-O-Tapu
From here we headed to Okarei Korako which you have to get to by boat – its called the Hidden Valley and because we were practically the only visitors there it was very spooky walking along the bush trail … well I was spooked 
The most creepy bit for me was the Ruatapu Cave – looks lovely on the pictures but there was something about it … I didn’t go all the way to the bottom like my intrepid Kiwi – the memorial sign saying the spirit of a local Maori boy who had been killed in WW2 ‘hovered’ in the cave didn’t help my nerves much either … 
Murray being the intrepid explorer that he is went all the way down to the pool at the bottom … and then wished he hadn’t after the very steep climb back up 
The Hidden Valley
From here we drove down to Taupo through the rain which had decided to follow us from Rotorua …
more lovely accomodation (didn’t I tell you I was with THE Premiere Tour Guide of NZ 
) and dining at NZ’s No1 Pizza Place for 2006 The Volcanic Kitchen – stone baked on wood fires – the waya Mama lika s to make it 
And after all that we decided to have a quiet night in before making our way back up The Thermal Explorers Highway (not making it up 
) to Auckland via one or two other spots …
To be continued … 