Spirit Visit Part 3

After looking through a huge pile of leaflets from the tourist information office, we decided to spend Tuesday morning doing the ‘DUKW tour’. A Rotorua company has bought up and renovated several amphibious craft from World War II, painted them yellow (presumably to make them look like rubber duckies), and kitted them out with manic drivers and a job lot of plastic duck whistles. The word ‘DUKW’ is an acronym, but none of us can remember what it stands for. Suggestions welcome.

Note added 04/01/06:
My sister Diana has found out the answer for us.

D indicates the model year 1942

U refers to the body style, utility (amphibious)

K for all - wheel drive

W for dual rear axles

Cheers, Diana. :-)


The DUKW did a tour of three of the lakes near Rotorua. The first lake we went on was the largest, Lake Rotorua itself, where the driver told us the (supposedly true) love story of Hinemoa and Tutanekai who came from two different tribes – one lived on the lake shore, and the other lived on the island in the middle of the lake.

We then set off a few kilometres down the road to Lake Tikitapu, also known as The Blue Lake. Lake Tikitapu is quite small, with a short, sandy beach, and is surrounded by hills covered in native bush. The lake is extremely deep and its waters are a striking greeny-blue. Legend has it that it got its name, (meaning ‘sacred Tiki’) after a Maori princess accidentally dropped a good luck charm in the shape of the god Tiki into its waters.

The final lake on our trip was Lake Okareka, which is absolutely stunning. The water is crystal clear and the lake is surrounded by gorgeous bush-clad hills. The lakeshore is lined with beautiful houses and exclusive, home-stay-style hotel accommodation. The houses were HUGE and they all had their own jetty and boatshed. Our driver told us that one of the houses rents out for $6,000 (£2,400) per night.

Unfortunately I’ve run out of time to tell the rest of this story; it will have to wait until Tuesday. This weekend coming up is a long holiday weekend, and we’re going back to Wanganui to have another look round and to have a look at some houses. It’s one of the areas we’re considering for the ‘big move’ in January.

Catch you later.