Day 48: Walk, Luge, Drive

This morning we woke up, drove a few miles, and realized that we had somehow ended up in California.  All around us were California Redwood trees, towering over us.  As it turned out, these trees had been brought from California in 1901 and planted here, probably for harvesting.  Since then, the area has been turned into a national park, protecting the trees.  Since they are only 100 years old, these trees are not quite as big as the ones in California, but they were still massive.  We took a short walk through the grove, which we found bigger than expected, and then moved on.

Greg with a redwood.

We couldn't drive through them, but they were big.

The day was a bit rainy, with on and off sprinklings throughout the morning, but considering that this was about our third rain while outdoors in 48 days, we weren’t too dismayed.  A few miles from the redwood forest was the “Blue Lake,” which we hiked around.  We supposed that the lake should be called “blue” for a good reason, but it looked pretty normal to us.  The hike around gave us fewer views of the lake than we expected, but it did take us over to the “Green Lake” as well.  At first, this lake appeared more blue than the previous.  Finally, near a far shore, we saw the surface turn a shade of green.  Back at the Blue Lake, the sun had finally come out and the reflection of the blue sky had turned the lake a nice shade of blue.  Ultimately, the best part of the hike was the trail.  Many sections of the trail had been built near the edge of the lake, and had been flooded, as, presumably, the water level was high today.  At least half a dozen times we had to find alternate routes through the forest around the flood.  At one point, it got so bad that we had to climb the hill to the road, as there was no way around.

The "Green" Lake.

The fog covering the Blue Lake.

Ah! Now it looks blue!

For lunch, we drove down the road another few miles to Lake Tarawera, a larger, nearby lake.  The water was almost perfectly clear, and across the lake we could see a couple of the mountains we had seen from the thermal valley yesterday.  Just beyond those mountains is the lake we had run to yesterday.

Lake Tarawera.

We headed into town for a bit of a thrill for the afternoon.  We took a gondola to the top of the nearby mountain, and from there, we road the luge six times down the hillside.  No, the luge was not the same luge you see on the Olympics, flying down the ice at 90mph.  Instead, it was a small cart, much like ones on a alpine slide, only the track is open, with room for passing and maneuvering.  We had an awesome time flying down the hillside, wizzing by those too afraid to speed up.  The worst part was the ski lift ride back to the top, which was cold and windy.  All in all, though, it was very fun and exhilarating.

Riding down the luge.

You could easily drive off of the track.

We got a bit stuck leaving the parking lot…

We spent several hours doing that, before heading out in search of a home.  Continuing our great northward journey, we drove towards the coastline, where we stopped at a beach for sunset.  From there, we drove north further up the coast, ending up at a holiday park on a peninsula, right on the beach.  From there, the stars were almost as good as they had been at Uluru.

Admiring the beach sunset.