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Published: January 7th 2010
Heading down from the Bay of Plenty we travelled towards Taupo, made famous for its massive lake that forms the largest inland stretch of water (over 600 sq/km), actually a huge caldera from the 2nd century AD!!
The first stop was the craters of the moon, a geothermal walk named for an other worldly atmosphere. The walk visited bubbling mud pools, steaming vents and craters and the walk along the ridge produced high pressure steam vents spewing out the side of the mountain. Some areas were hot enough to cook an egg on!
Following on we needed to cool off and where better than Huka Falls, a falls with a difference. At the Huka Falls, the Waikato River which is normally 100m wide, is squeezed through a 20 metre wide gorge and over a 20m drop. Every second up to 220,000 litres of water gushes through the gorge and shoots out over 8 metres beyond to create a beautful blue/green pool. Apparently the most visited attraction in NZ! Luckily Lisa and I being cunning found an alternative viewpoint on the grassy bank opposite the main viewing platform, watch them squeeze in for the photos.
We found a 'sweet
as' camping spot downstream where the current was still fast but it was very picturesque. We both decided we had to get out onto the lake proper and the following day booked ourselves on the Barbary yacht, previously owned by Erol Flynn!! Obviously David had to take the helm...dont worry its still in one piece!
The trip took us to the Mauri rock carvings over 10m high, where we swam around them in the shall we say 'fresh' fresh water lake! ..apparently so clean you could drink it!
It was a very calm day, completely in contrast to the previous day where we had observed a kite boarder getting blown up onto the shore as he struggled to hold onto his kit.
Taupo was a really chilled out place, lovely bars and a calmness that is provided by the lakeside setting. We enjoyed sitting next to the lake and watching the fun and games go on.
Our trip in Taupo was concluded with a visit to the Taupo museum, which had a lot of history about the early settlers and the timber trade, how the lake has been split between Mauri and European settlers and even the
Chelsea Flower Show award winning Ora garden on display, quite an ecclectic mix.
We then headed off to the Tongariro region for Xmas.....
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