Long Trip – Day 5
Te Puia Springs September 2013
Kawhia is a small,
laid back town on the west coast with black sand beaches. According to the map
and a guidebook one can found comfort in hot springs on the beach. It’s just
enough to dig a hole in the sand and enjoy hot thermal water as depicted and
described in the brochures. I found the city and the Ocean Beach. Although, I
dig a big hole on the beach, I couldn’t find any hot springs. Tourist
information in the city was open from 11 am, I was there earlier. It was time
for me to move on.
The next stop was
Otorohanga to see a kiwi house. The road from Kawhia to Otorohanga is spectacular
and picturesque but very winding. I passed there both at night and during the
day. I found speed limits funny - 100km/ha - not reachable for my driving
skills :-)
Entrance ticket to the Kiwi House costs 20 NZ$ and every day at 1:30 pm they
feed them. They keep different, native species but I was there mostly for kiwis.
I check almost all i-SITE centres, they provide brochures with a lot of
discounts to different places from 10% to 2 for 1 tickets.
After my meeting with kiwi I took the road 4. In Taumaruni is a small Maori meeting
house. Following the road no 4 towards the National Park you will get to
Piriaka. Around 3km further I turned left to Kakahi. This is a must see place
for those who love glow worms and don’t want to pay for it and/or hate caves.
It gets dark after 7 pm. In the village of Kakahi I followed the main road
until I got to the Te Rena Road. On a junction with Tio Street I turned right
and drove around 3km straight keeping to the right all the time. At the end I found a
natural tunnel with a parking place at the end. I walked back few minutes with
a torch, I turned it off and saw a lot of glow worms on both sides of the
tunnel.
Coordinates: 38°56'20"S
175°24'20"E
I spent the night at the rest area near the national park it was my risk. Please always take
your rubbish with you when you stay anywhere.
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| :-) |
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| I've tried to use a hot termal water |
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| Kiwi in Otorohanga |
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| Te Kuiti |
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| Te Kuiti Meeting house |
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| Kakahi tunnels with warms |
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| Kakahi Glow warms |
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| Kakahi Glow warms |
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| Kakahi Glow warms |
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