It was a very bleary eyed bunch that headed to the airport at stupid o’clock to catch a flight to Auckland.  Having left Ian at home minding the ship, the rest of Dipidydoo waved their passports and departed the country for another overseas orienteering foray. Our mission this time is Sprint the Bay, a series of 6 fast and furious races in 3 days, in Hawkes Bay on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand.

We landed mid afternoon after an uneventful flight, picked up Betsy, our el cheapo rental car, and headed for Hamilton, which is NZ’s fourth largest city and about 100-ish kms south of Auckland.  We took the motorway and ran slap bang into a huge traffic jam.  A sign warned us to look out for a “hidden queue” – I don’t understand how a queue can be hidden? Surely if it’s a queue, it’s in plain sight, and if you can’t see it, then it’s not a queue, is it?

Having struggled with this piece of NZ motorway philosophy, we pressed on and reached Hamilton in time to check in and soak in the hot tub before dinner, which washed away the niggles from sitting in a plane seat.  The restaurant served a very generous and tasty meal, and we retired to bed sated.

The weather forecast is for rain, but this morning was gorgeous.  The locals were complaining about how hot it was, but at 26 degrees, it was pretty mild to us.  We decided to do our sightseeing today while the sun was out, so we set off on the Thermal Explorer trail to Rotorua.  It’s nearly 40 years since I went there as a teenager with my family, so I wasn’t too surprised not to recognise much – but I remembered the sulphur smell!

First we paid a quick visit to a Maori marae, the original village beside the lake.  There are some lovely examples of wood carving inlaid with paua shell, especially inside the lovely little church.  It was weird to see steam rising from cracks in the paths.

Our main destination was the Wai-O-Tapu thermal area about 30 kms down the road towards Taupo. Covering about 18 sq km, the area is full of collapsed craters, boiling mud pools and steaming fumaroles.

Temperatures of up to 300 degrees C have been recorded.  We followed 3 marked trails which took us to features such as the Devil’s Bath, the Artists Palette, Frying Pan Flat, the Champagne Pool (named for the incessant tiny bubbles) and the Inferno Crater.  The colours are simply amazing, especially at the aptly named Artists Palette.  The whole experience is a sensory array of sight, sound and smell that is quite unique.  As you look at the photos, you have to imagine the “gloop gloop” of the bubbling mud, and the heady aroma of the sulphur. I enjoyed the raft of totally superfluous warning signs such as “unstable ground” and “do not swim in the 100 degree boiling water”.  At no stage were we tempted to leave the safety of the formed paths and boardwalks.

Leaving this other world behind, we pressed on, bypassing Taupo and heading for Havelock North, our home for the next few days.  We finally spotted some sheep, after false alarms with cows and goats.  Once in Havelock North, we settled in quickly. Next stop was registration, where we harassed an indifferent official and finally convinced him to give us a printed program, after they failed to post the promised online version before we left home.  After several gallic shrugs and looks that clearly said “tell someone who cares”, he reluctantly handed one over to get rid of us, no doubt muttering “bloody aussies” as we left.  Customer service score – zero.

The fun starts tomorrow – the first event involves head to head loop racing, which could be a recipe for disaster.  My strategy will be to take a cautious approach, ignore everyone else, and concentrate on not making errors.  Let’s see how that pans out …