Belated - Taupo and Rotorua (sorry these are late - very late)

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1st March Rotorua



The trip from Napier took us across more spectacular countryside, with very few townships and even fewer petrol stations. Fill up before you leave any big town!!!.

We bypassed Taupo before heading into Rotorua for a few days to be chauffeured by John and have a couple of days respite from Doris (our nagging Sat nav)

The hotel was close on Sulphur Lake but with all the amenities close by.



2nd March Lake Taupo and surrounds New Zealand's largest lake, sits in a caldera that began erupting some 300,000 years ago.

This lake and surrounding waterways attract fishing enthusiasts from all over.

Our first stop was the Huka Falls on the Waikato river, New Zealand's longest, fed from Lake Taupo the Falls crash on to the Aratiatia Rapids another place for adrenaline junkies.

The Huka falls mark a spot where the Waikato river slams into a narrow chasm with a 10 metre drop, the force of the torrent is seen from the footbridge. Called by the Maori Hukanui - Great Body of Spray.

It is here that the Jet boats appear to give more adrenaline junkies their fix. There are numerous ways to get your 'fix' on the Waikato including the famous bungy jump, apparently it is an essential to take a mouthful from the river as you bungy over it.

We ALL declined and also passed on Tandem Skydiving!!!

Before heading back into Taupo, we took a brief visit to the Huka Prawn Park mainly looking for a cup of coffee.

I think this was one for the kids where you could fish for freshwater prawns for your lunch.

The photo of 'Keep Out - Prawns Exercising ' says it all!!!

Returning to Taupo itself, the place was rammed.

I forgot to say at the beginning that the latest Iron Man Triathlon was taking place in Taupo and they had all descended into the town and lake for their final practice of swimming and cycling.

A nice sedate lunch and a couple of stops around the lake seeing various athletes putting themselves through what I can see as torture. They were going to have to do it for real the next day.

Anyway, each to their own and it was back to Rotorua for ice cream and by then it was beer-o-clock and luckily the bar was just around the corner in Eat Street where they served the local Croucher beer.

We had dinner in the hotel, each night most hotels in the district offer Maori Concerts and Hangi.

Maori culture is a huge draw in Rotorua, very commercialised, the feasts (Hangi) are packaged with the concert where the famous Hongi (Maori freeing) and Haka are performed.

We declined, it was much more interesting watching a visiting Argentian rugby side who were visiting for a local tournament.

There were over a 100 of them and they demolished the buffet put on for them.

There was just plates of bare bones going back to the kitchen.



3rd March Rotorua and the Lakes.

Certainly an interesting smell when you leave the hotel in the morning.

Lake Rotorua is the largest of the 16 lakes beneath it lies a spent volcano.

There is plenty to see and after much debate it was off to the Skyline a cable car takes you up Mt Ngongotaha where there are panoramic views.

A good place for early morning coffee before the crowds. As we left the Argentine rugby team arrived en masse so that was the end to the peace and quiet!!

For an extra thrill you can luge back down on three different tracks, we again declined!!!

A bit more culture followed with a visit to Ohinemutu, a lakeside Maori village.

Whilst a bit ramshackled the highlights include the 1905 Tama-te-kappa Meeting House and the St Faiths Anglican Church.

The church features intricate Maori carvings and a stained glass window of Christ wearing a Maori cloak as he walks on the waters of Lake Rotorua.

There are also plenty of steaming and smelly volcanic vents, some of which have been tapped to supply heat to nearby buildings.

Southeast of Rotorua there are more lakes to explore so it was off to the Blue Lake (Lake Tikitapu), the Green Lake (Lake Rotokakahi), Lake Okareka and the biggest of them all Lake Tarawera.

Lake Tarawera means 'Burnt Spear' after a hunter had left his spears in a hut, only to return to find both thus and spears burnt!!!Nearby is the Buried Village which was covered by the eruption of Mt Tarawera in 1886, Te Wairoa was the staging post to see the Pink and White terraces, today there is a museum with artefacts dug up from the ruins.

We headed back into Rotorua for lunch and ended up in Eat Street for beer and pizza etc.



It was at this stage that Mr Paine had his brainwave, our hire car had been sat at the hotel for two days (doing nothing), so John says 'why don't we take your car to Rotorua airport and drop it off at the Avis desk, and instead of driving back in convoy to Auckland tomorrow we travel in my car'.



Heather gets on the case and within two hours all our paraphernalia is in the Paines car, we're carless and ready to travel back to Auckland as one.



By the way the boys return the car and we drop the ladies off at the Polynesian Spa.Then it's off to the supermarket for our picnic supper in the Paines hotel room, the Blues are playing and beer should be taken and some wine.





Mind you after the Blues display something stronger should have been consumed - enough said



Sorry no captions

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