Sheep and Stinky Mud

A sheep shearing show. That's what we started our day with. Our host introduced us to abou 22 different breeds of sheep. Some with horns curled around their eyes and some with dreadlocks! Afterward, we went to a thermal pool. It is a region with geysers and boiliing mud pools. In the misty rain, it was hard to see the geysers, but the mud pools were unmistakable. The whole region smelled of sulpher. Quite noxious! Imagine 100 rotten eggs and them times that by a billion. But it certainly was interesting. We couldn't figure out why people would want to stay in the hotel overlooking the mud pools. To each his own, I guess.

We then carried on south toward Taopo. Lake Taupo is huge! We wanted to rent a boat and go see some Maori cliff carvings, but we couldn't find one. Oh well. I guess my post card will have to be enough.

We arrived in Whakapapa Village (note, the Maoris pronounce the "WH" sound as a "F" - now say the name of the Village again! ;-) ) in time for dinner. Then crashed with some Numb3rs DVDs.

This morning we took a leisurely walk in the alpine setting to a waterfall. The air is really crisp up here in the mountains. I wish it were a little clearer so we could have even more amazing views. They say it should be clearer tomorrow, so hopefully we'll get some great pictures then.

After the walk, we went back to Turangi, about 47 kms north of where we are and found the fabulous "Adventure Mini Golf". Michael won by two strokes. Beginner's luck, I say. We just drove back to the Village and up the mountain to see the ski lifts about six kms up the mountain. There's still snow and boy, is it wicked cold up there with the wind. It's about 2:20 PM and we plan to just hang out the rest of the day with more Numb3rs and some cards. I won't tell you what we've planned for tomorrow. Let's just leave that a little surprise!