We got up at a civilised time and were on the road for sometime after 10am, probably our first rookie mistake in hindsight. Our plan had been to hit up a couple of big sites in Rotorua and then head back and have a meal out in Hamilton to give Corina, Brian and the kids a break from us for the evening. Had hoped to get a cultural show and dinner in Rotorua but only the late one was available and would've meant getting back really late as staying over short notice with a wheelchair isn't an easy option sadly.
We headed for the Te Puia thermal park which had claims to be quite accessible. We arrived in the car park and got parked in a coach spot as all the car and disabled spots were gone. Sadly the cultural show was fully booked but we just bought a straight up park ticket which was a lot more expensive than I remembering it being about 10 years ago. As it was just before midday and the walking tours were free and wheelchair friendly we opted to wait. Our guide was an older Maori man with a crutch and a bad leg so we figured we'd be able to keep up especially when he said his hour long tour usually took about 90 minutes (although the Asian bus tour had to be back at the bus in exactly an hour).
Been to park before but now been split on two - same Iwi but some politics hinted at. Saw most things just a walking loop which might have been ok with an extra pair of hands but not worth chancing tipping Adrian out or my back. We started with a look around the carving and weaving schools - essentially they are building up this part of the area as almost a Maori cultural university - quite interesting. Managed to see a full display of the big geezer - still pretty impressive after all these years.
Headed back towards the cafe taking a look at the Waka and the mocked up Marae in the meantime. A lovely older Maori lady came to see if we were coming for the cultural show as she wanted to show us where the disabled ramp was and we said sadly it was fully booked. She then showed as where to stand so we got the best view of the welcome greeting before the show and stayed to chat to us about the park and her tribe and some of her cultural history. Before leaving us she generously handed me some glad she had been slowly weaving into a rose.
We had lunch - a disappointing pie for Adrian and an ok but expensive bagel for me, then a "quick" toilet stop - came back to find a young woman on guard outside disabled loo, eventually came up and said she'd accidentally walked in on Adrian and wanted to apologise - I said wasn't first time wouldn't be last. She was concerned he was ok as had been in toilet for a while but I again reassured her. Soon after Adrian came out she apologised and he again reiterated not first or last time. We "exited via the gift shop".
As it was after 4pm and a bit late to hit up another park before closing (doesn't seem worth paying almost $60nz to see a fragment of a park) but a bit early to head back to Hamilton, some bright lady had an idea to drive on the extra hour or so and go see Lake Taupo. We drove to Taupo both a little pink from the glorious sunshine with barely a cloud in the sky. We made a quick detour to a look out over Huka Falls which had a handy wheelchair ramp and another area with a low level railing, sadly the low level railing was either down two narrow steps or up three! Despite the offer of help from another tourist we decided not to risk it and Adrian did a pull up on the high railing and got a small glimpse of the falls - sadly no jet boats to be seen. We had a look and a leg/wheel stretch by the lake and then ummed and ahhhed about eating at Taupo but decided it was too early seeing as we had lunch about 3:30pm and it was only 6pm.
Decided to head back and find somewhere in Hamilton to eat with easy access and parking. Sadly dreams of a swanky dinner were taken by the desperate need to find somewhere with a toilet that we knew we could both get into quickly. We'd made an interesting bush stop in a cul de sac (5 minutes later we passed a truck stop that probably had toilets which is pretty ironic) but both of us had full bladders by the outskirts of Hamilton. Hence out lovely swanky Hamilton dinner became a salubrious Burger King that asked patrons to kindly take off their dirty work boots before entering. Never mind we were fed and happily in bed not too late.
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