I'd like to see some of the geothermal sites, and I believe there's a traditional Maori village nearby. The lady in Reception gives me some maps and suggests a place called Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland, about 30 minutes away. If I get there by 10am, I'll have time to get a ticket and see the Lady Knox Geyser that 'erupts' every morning at 10:15. I'm impressed by Lady Knox's punctuality. I load up the car, fill it with petrol, and take the Old Taupo Road south out of Rotoroua. At the edge of town, behind a hotel, enormous clouds of steam are rising from the ground. But I don't have time to explore - I continue out on the Old Taupo Road, join Highway 5 towards Wai-O-Tapu, and I get there at 9:50.
The main tourist centre is a smart single story building at the far end of the access road. The car parks are full and the ticket desk is busy. But I beat the main rush, and have time to sit in the cafe for a cup of tea and some carrot cake - the breakfast of champions. Looking through the trail maps for the Thermal Wonderland, it looks like the Maori village will have to be another day. The trails take 2-3 hours and I probably won't even start until 11. So today is Wai-O-Tapu day. I hope it's good.
I go back to the car and join the procession back up the access road, until we reach the turn off for the geyser. It's 10:10 now, the drizzle has stopped, and the sky is brightening. Parking on a rough, unsurfaced car park, I take a couple of minutes to enjoy watching a woman who is apparently incapable of parking if the gap is smaller than a football pitch. Some of her manouevres are incomprehensible, some are preposterous, and all are hilarious. I'm not the only person to be enjoying this show. In fact I wonder if it might be better if I ignore Lady Knox, and just sit here watching Lady Knocks instead. But suddenly (perhaps with an eye on the clock, but nevertheless unexpectedly considering where her car is), she turns off her engine, gets out, and walks hurriedly across the car park. Behind her, the car looks like it was deposited there by a hurricane.
With the entertainment finished, I get out of my car and walk towards the pathway that will take me to Lady Knox. The path is a short one, winding through a few bushes until it opens out into a small amphitheatre of wooden benches. Down and to the left, behind an unobtrusive wooden barrier, is Lady Knox. She looks like a swirl of grey ice cream that has fallen on the ground and started melting in the sun. I practice using the video function on my camera, getting ready for the main event. 10:15 comes and goes. Hmmm.
Eventually, a man steps over the barrier, walks up to Lady Knox, and turns to face the expectant crowd. He's miked up, and starts explaining a bit about the human Lady Knox (daughter of a Governor of New Zealand), about the geyser Lady Knox (has two layers of water - an upper layer of warm water, lying on top of a lower layer of hot water), and how it was discovered (some prisoners at a nearby jail were washing their clothes and one of them dropped some soap down the hole of the geyser - a few minutes later the geyser erupted). In fact, as the man explains, Lady Knox would happily erupt without soap, and has done so for many thousands of years. But factors such as the recent amount of rain, the strength of the last eruption, the heat building up in the lower layer of water - all of these mean that eruptions could happen at any time, and be several days apart.
They would be patient tourists indeed, to sit and wait for that - even if being entertained by Lady Knocks in the car park. So, at 10:15 every day (or 10:25 today) somebody comes along and drops some soap down Lady Knox's vent (the poor old girl) and the show begins.
I press the 'record' button and try to get used to viewing the event through the small screen on the back of my camera. The man goes through his presentation while, on his left, Lady Knox stirs from her sleep, wisps of steam becoming stronger. Then, the first sight of the eruption. With well practiced timing, foam starts oozing out of the spout just as the man starts winding down his speech. 30 seconds later, he walks out of shot, and silence descends as everyone watches Lady Knox doing her thing.
The oozing gets stronger, turning into a flow of soapy water, and over the next few minutes it becomes a tall graceful spout of water dancing about 30 feet into the air. She does go higher, but not today. The eruption goes on for a surprisingly long time - it seems like 5 minutes but it must be shorter than that. Eventually, the column of water shrinks to a spill, and then retreats back down into the ground. Lady Knox is asleep again, until tomorrow.
I press the record button again, and the camera starts recording my feet. This is unexpected. It should simply have stopped the recording that I started earlier. Unless...
Scanning back through the videos, I have all the test videos that I shot before the eruptions. I even have the beginning of the full video. But I must have hit the record button again without realising it. Lady Knox has just erupted but all I have on screen, in the very last second before the clip finishes, is the first sign of foam rising from the vent. It's disappointing, and looks faintly nauseating. I'm cheered up when I see Lady Knocks' car again, but I make sure I get out of the car park before she starts her engine.
Back at the Thermal Wonderland tourist centre, the sky has darkened again and the rain has returned. It looks like it's here to stay, but at least it relented for Lady Knox. I set off following the trail around the whole Thermal Wonderland. I see clouds of steam rising from the ground in all directions. Holes in rocks, pouring out warm air. Some 'features' that aren't very exciting and seem to be the result of someone's desire to make something our of very little. Other features, that are impressive indeed. The Pink Terraces. The Champagne Pool. There's a warm waterfall that cascades about ten feet into a large lake below, and filling the surroundings with even more steam.
By the end of my walk, my fold-out map is soaked and now lies in several tattered pieces. My jeans are soaked. Even some of my shirt is soaked, where the rain has defeated the lightweight waterproof that I'm wearing. But it's been good and I would come here again. But right now, my thoughts return to driving. It's early afternoon, and I'm meeting Gary in Hamilton, on the way back to Auckland. Early tomorrow morning, I'll be flying back to Brisbane.
In the car park, I open the car boot, and get some dry clothes. With the rain becoming lighter but still persistent, the few passers-by are scurrying around, intent on finding the fastest way to somewhere dry. My car is discreetly nestled next to a camper can on one side and a border of head-high reeds and grasses and ferns on the other. So I sit in the driver's seat and writhe my way out of my wet clothes and into the dry. A minute later, with wet jeans and shirt on the back seat, and with wet socks and shoes in the passenger footwell, I drive back up the access road to the mud pools that I passed on the way in. One car leaves the small car park just as I arrive. The air is eerily still and I have the place to myself. I spend about 10 minutes just looking at everything, taking photos and videos, taking care not to repeat my Lady Knox calamity. If only the bubbling mud was as predictable as Lady Knox. Instead, while I video one area of fairly gentle bubbling, I hear an enormous burbling splosh to my right. So I point my camera at that area, and the next enormous splosh is elsewhere. So I just shoot a few clips with my fingers crossed. Then, it's back out for the last 100 metres on the access road, turn right back onto Highway 5, and start my journey north.
About an hour into the journey, I get a call from Brendon at High Street IT. I've been getting updates throughout the week, about one of their clients that is very interested in my CV. Things have moved on - they want to interview me this afternoon. I tell him where I am, he figures out how long it will take me to reach Auckland, and starts making phone calls back and forth. Ten hectic minutes later, with the dust settling, I text Gary and explain that I can't meet him today. I have to get to Auckland for an interview at 6pm.
It's a challenge, but the weather improves and the roads are fairly clear, so it looks like I might even get there with 30 minutes to spare. Until I reach the outskirts of Auckland. This stretch of Highway 1 is like a UK motorway - 3 lanes in both directions. Like many UK motorways at rush hour, the traffic is solid and stationary. I keep Brendon updated and he relays my location to the client. By the time I reach central Auckland, my 30 minute buffer has disappeared. By the time I've found a parking space, had another in-car change of clothes (into the smart casual clothes that I wore to the meetings with the agencies) and reached the office, I'm ten minutes late. But the guy is relaxed about it, and we go to a meeting room and start chatting.
The role is a little different from what I normally do, but I have a particular combination of skills and experience that they like. So I'm being interviewed as a possible business consultant in the engineering and construction industries. I'm not sure how on earth I'd fit into that role but, as he talks through it, everything falls into place and makes sense. He likes the things I'm saying and, at the end of the interview, he's even more happy to fit me into that role. From my chair, it's an exciting challenge, just being able to apply my skills and experience to a different industry. We spend a bit of time talking about the visa situation, and about his experiences as a Brit who's moved to New Zealand. By the time we finish, it's almost 7:30, but I ring Brendon as promised and tell him the positive news. We wish each other a good weekend and, as I walk back to the car, I reflect on how much faster things have moved for me in New Zealand compared with Brisbane. It's been quite a week. I've met several agencies and had great feedback from them all. There's been lots of interest from client companies, and I've had an interview that went well. With an early morning flight back to Brisbane tomorrow, my first visit to New Zealand is drawing to a close. All I need to do now is find somewhere to stay tonight.
I head towards the airport, and go round some of the motels and hotels in the area. I don't really care where I stay so within 30 minutes, I've checked into a hotel and am setting as many alarm as I can, to get me up in the morning.
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