We made four stops between Rotorua and Blue Duck Station: First stop was the coolest and the hottest. We drove a few minutes off-road to Kerosene Creek which is a hot spring waterfall. All but a few of us suited up and hopped in for a warm dip. Second stop was a bubbling mud pit to watch the blop, blop, blop. Third stop was Harangi Falls: an amazing volume of water pouring out of Taupo Lake. Fourth stop was for diesel and groceries.
The road out to Blue Duck Station was a long and slow one, but well worth it. Their website is worth looking at, because they are doing some amazing work there. It is a back-to-basics farm with horses, cattle, and sheep, but it is also a tourist destination with accommodation, food, and tours, but it is also a conservation group improving the health of the entire area.
After a quick check-in, we walked to a waterfall with a guide. We paddled a short, but super-cool, stretch near the falls. Then walked to an abandoned trading shed with a cool history. Then we walked a bit further and got to see two Blue Ducks!! That gets two exclamation points because they are very rare to see, even at Blue Duck Station.
We got a wild ride back in a quad, tossed a few axes at the target, and sat down to a dinner of Argentinian-style meatballs.
That's when we got the sad news that the Tongariro crossing (scheduled for the next day) was cancelled due to the chance of 100 kmh winds. I was very disappointed because it was going to be a highlight of the trip for me. (I'll tell you tomorrow what we ended up doing.)
Even the 1 km walk in the dark back from dinner to our accommodation was super-cool ... we saw hundreds of glow-worms (we didn't actually know what they were until we got to our rooms and discussed it with the others).
Glow worms....Melody would be in heaven!!
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