walk, but because people could be so brainless!! There weren’t many walking tracks around so we decided to head for Murapara, on the edge of Te Urewera National Park, part of the mountainous backbone of the North Island. The scenery was pretty impressive, but unfortunately the DOC area office was closed, leaving us without a map, or any idea of where the walks may be. We gleaned as much information as we could by peering through the windows of the office, and set off in search of somewhere to walk. This was a fairly frustrating exercise that saw us aimlessly driving for around half an hour! We were on the verge of giving up hope when we came across Lake Aniwhenua, a beautifully picturesque place with a free campsite!! Turned out the lake was dammed, and the waters used for a hydroelectric power station a few kilometres downstream. The power company provided the free campsite as part of the conditions for building the power station apparently. It was a lovely walk down the valley following the river to

where the power station was, and there was a good set of waterfalls on the way too, so our exercise mission was finally complete, with a free nights accommodation thrown in!!

We were up with the birds the next morning, as it was our last day in the Rotarua area, and we were going to Wai-O-Tapu thermal wonderland, supposedly the most impressive of the geothermal areas which charged a fee. Included was the Lady Knox Geyser, which we’d discovered was in fact a man made affair, created by drilling a metal pipe into an underground pool of hot water, and then pouring soap powder into it each morning at 10.15 sharp! The soap powder lowers the surface tension of the water, and the geyser erupts. This all sounded pretty cheesy, and Rough Guide had warned us that it was a bit of a free for all once this was over to get back to the main area to look around the thermal park. So we had decided to get there