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Taupo Travel Blogs

Background: The Polynesian Maori reached New Zealand in about A.D. 800. In 1840, their chieftains entered into a compact with Britain, the Treaty of Waitangi, in which they ceded sovereignty to Queen Victoria while retaining territorial rights. In that same year, the British began the first organized colonial settlement. A series of land wars between 1843 and 1872 ended with the defeat of the native peoples. The British colony of New Zealand became an independent dominion in 1907 and supported the UK militarily in both World Wars. New Zealand's full participation in a number of defense alliances lapsed by the 1980s. In recent years, the government has sought to address longstanding Maori grievances.

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By Greggerfer
December 18th 2009

Nice and sunny here :) Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Taupo

Library - 441

Greetings one and all. So I went a bit mental the other day and did this (points to first photograph). Yup that's me, 15,000 feet in the air and reaching a speed of 200kmh on the way down. Wasn't actually that scary - as I had figured in my head you're so high up you don't really realise how high you are. Admittedly when you first exit the plan it's terrifying but it's because you experience what the nice people at the company call a "Sensory Overload" and you have no idea what's actually going on. Hence me opting to jump [View Full Entry]

By Greggerfer
December 15th 2009

The Long Way Round Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Taupo

A Spitfire - Hamilton Memorial Park

Well I finally made it to Taupo and am working at a hostel here until it's time to go to Bay of Islands, but what a crazy route, as you can see from the map showing my journey of the last week and a bit. For some reason I opted to show the bus route from Hamilton to Taupo so you can see I stopped at Rotorua for 30mins, I don't know why I did that, but I do know that I really wanted to go to Rotorua and felt somewhat teased by this comfort stop....maybe next year. Forgot to mention [View Full Entry]

By TomandRachel
December 2nd 2009

Taupo and the Skydive Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Taupo

Photo 6

Day 9 So we had arrived at Lake Taupo the night before and had awoken to a beautiful red hot day, and were wondering what to with ourselves when Tom suggested that perhaps we should spontaneously do a skydive. We had originally planned to wait to Franz Josef the glacier in the South Island to do one as we had been told that the scenery was stunning but more recently a couple of people had told us that we should go with the weather. So this is what we decided to do (the right decision ultimately as we have just been [View Full Entry]

By Margaretthedog
November 28th 2009

Our new friend, David. Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Taupo » Ohakune

HEY!! Things are looking up!! Karlene Jean may be coming out of her coma. The mechanic yesterday gave us much hope. We filled her up with some brand new oil and are keeping a close watch on her. I sure hope she makes it because we were planning to dress her up for the Holidays! Not to mention the fact that we have not even made it to the South Island yet...We will keep you posted, of course. Staying in Taupo for the next few days to see how she does. Speaking of Taupo...yesterday in my blog, I left out much [View Full Entry]

By Margaretthedog
November 27th 2009

Karlene bites the dust (maybe) Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Taupo » Ohakune

Hey Everyone! I hope this blog works better than the last... It has been such a long time since I wrote, I don't even know where we left off, so I am going to give you the latest and greatest and then more randomness. First of all, it's Thanksgiving for you all right now, so HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Hope you ate good meals for Mary Kathryn and I because our "Thanksgiving dinner" was interesting to say the least. We had a campsite out by a beautiful river, The Wairakei River, which is Huka Falls is on. The falls are just amazing. Our [View Full Entry]

By OJ Scott
November 12th 2009

Taupo: The Tongariro Crossing Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Taupo

Standing in front of a volcano!

In Taupo me and some friends got together to do the Tongariro Crossing, a 20km hike and one of the finest walks in New Zealand. The bus to the walk's starting point left the youth hostel at 6.20am, so after an early rise and a 1 hour bus journey we were all psyched for the walk. However, we got within half an hour of the starting point and the weather turned bad, so we had to turn back. God were we gutted! So we stayed an extra day in Taupo to do the walk the next morning, and luckily the weather [View Full Entry]

By the kemps
October 22nd 2009

We only went in to swap a dvd!!!!! Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Taupo

Huka falls

We left a very sunny Napier and made the drive of a few hours to Taupo, stopping off for a peppermint tea and bacon sarnie (All made in A** Hole of course - I love living in a camper!!) at Huka falls which were very beautiful. From here we went to the Craters of the Moon Geothermal park but the rain started lashing it down so having bought a ticket and being allowed to come back the next day we set off in search of a 'spacestation' to swap some of our dvd's. This is the bit where I will hand [View Full Entry]

By Deirdre and Diarmuid
October 9th 2009

Lake Toupo - Fishing Haven Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Taupo

Fishing on Lake Toupo

Hi all, We arrived in Lake Toupo in the late afternoon, the scenic journey down was less than a couple of hours, and not surprisingly in almost winter the forest fire signs were all set to low. As soon as we arrived in Toupo, Diarmuid bought a fishing licence and quizzed the shop assistant on the best fishing spots. So with all the equipment and information needed off we went up the Waikato River for some dusk fishing. Parts of the river are only used for fly fishing but between the control bridge and Huka Falls you can fish with a [View Full Entry]

By Laurene
October 2nd 2009

Coastal Walk Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Taupo

Lake Taupo

We stopped in town to mail some postcards and then started off on the coastal walk. It was pretty cold and cloudy but not raining. Lots of black swans, ducks and seagulls wandering around. Saw some baby ducks. There was a couple of really nice houses right on the lake overlooking it. I had to take a couple of pics. They probably cost a lot with the view they have. I got really tired of walking so I turned around and headed back to the hostel and Meike kept on walking. I listened to some of the Flames game on the [View Full Entry]

By Laurene
October 1st 2009

Huka Falls Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Taupo

River

Finally some sun!!!! We were so happy we threw on shorts and headed out to Huka falls. A 20 minute walk from our hostel to get to the start of the hike and then an hour and a half hike from there. We walked along the river on a trail to get there. The Huka falls are really just white water rapids. The wide river has to go through a narrow section which creates the falls. We did the long hike back and finished just as the clouds started coming in. Stopped for a quick lunch ( a meat pie from [View Full Entry]

Travel Blog » Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Taupo