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Published: February 24th 2013
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We arrived in Taupo in the early afternoon and we immediately thought the town was lovely. We first had a look around a few different tour companies to book some white water rafting. We decided to book with one company that offered a short floatplane flight first across the lake because Ian has always wanted to fly in a floatplane so we booked it for the following day and headed off to see the Huka waterfall and the craters of the moon thermal park. The geysers were mad, the whole area was steaming as we were walking around. There was mud bubbling everywhere and the strong smell of sulphur or rotten eggs! It really did look like something out of this world.
On the lake in town they have this hole in one challenge and Ian just had to have a go. There is a platform 120 yards out with 3 different flags to hit. He gave it a good go and came close a few times but unfortunately didn't win the big money. There are kids with helmets diving down to get the balls that are in the water and the guy next to Ian was rubbish and hit
one of the kids in the face. We think he was ok though haha! On the way back to our holiday park beside the Hilton! We decided to get a cooked roast chicken in woolworths. And when we got back to the van Ian russeled a lovely Sunday roast!! We enjoyed that chicken with some lovely sambos that night after the pub and the following day. We think it might have made up for missing some turkey sambos over christmas haha!
The next day we headed down to catch our plane. I was really looking forward to the flight but Laura was getting a bit nervous. The flight was really cool and you could see how big the lake actually is and how it used to be a volcano. There was a few bumps along the way as can be expected in a small plane but Laura was not enjoying it and was really hurting my hand. Once on the ground she instructed to tell me she would never be going in a plane that small again! We were picked up on the other side by the rafting company and we were driven to the office. We got checked
in and got all our gear on before getting back on the bus to head up river. Me and Laura were in the front of our boat and we did well paddling together. At one point we were told to hang on going down some rapids and after coming through them we bounced of a wall a bit. Laura got thrown thrown through the air and ended up on her ass in the middle of our boat, it was very funny. About half way down all the boats pulled over to do some cliff jumping. We both got to the top and jumped pretty quickly. The water was freezing when we hit it and it really took our breath away. Even with our wetsuits and jackets on we were shaking with the cold haha! We continued on down stream for another hour or so seeing some beautiful parts of the river. We finished of our days rafting with lovely sandwiches and tea in the rafting office. We both really enjoyed the day the only down side was that our guide was up his own arse!
The following morning we set of for Rotorua which the locals like to call
Vegas! We heard from our rafting guide. They have obviously never been to the actual Vegas. We decided to visit Whakarewarewa maori thermal village which is built on a big thermal area. We had one of the locals as a guide to show us around the village. She showed us how the use the thermal pools for cooking and so many other things. The ground is only about 30cm thick and under that is boiling water. When you touch the ground the heat is just unreal you can even feel it through your shoes. We got to know loads about the Maori people and there beliefs from our guide as well as seeing the geysers erupt it was great, and all the money goes towards the people and maintaining this area.
Tomorrow we head up towards the coast.
Chat soon Ian and Laura
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