Day 67: Taupo Traffic

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Today I did a lot of walking, and didn't really get anywhere. In the morning, I tried to walk to Huka Falls, described on websites as a walk of an hour each way from the town center. I was up near Spa Road, several blocks from the town center, so I thought it might be a little shorter than that.

When I'd walked for an hour and fifteen minutes, I'd made it as far as the start of the Huka Falls Walkway. At that point, I stopped to ask someone how far it was to the Falls themselves, and I was told it was another hour and a half's walk, so I gave up.

Fortunately, Teresa, another friend from the GirlsOwn mailing list, is coming to spend the day with me tomorrow, and she'll have a car. I should be able to see the Falls with her.

In the afternoon, I decided that I should at least try to go see Lake Taupo. That was a long walk, too. I could see the lake in the distance from Blackcurrant, but it took me 45 minutes' walking to get to a point across the street from it. I decided not to try to cross the street, as traffic was very heavy.

Traffic, in fact, has been heavy everywhere I've gone in Taupo. I don't know where all those people are going, but every street seems to be busy. I suppose it's just that it's high season, and this is a tourist town.

It's a strange tourist town, though. I haven't seen a visitors' center or a list of attractions. Evidently Taupo needs no advertisement. There are crowds of young backpackers walking down the street, not all from Blackcurrant, but I don't know what they are all doing or where they are going.
On the abortive Huka Falls walk, most of the other walkers were closer to my own age, and they looked like locals.

On the whole I am liking Blackcurrant -- it can't help the awful traffic -- but I have not yet warmed up to Taupo. I'm sure I'm still seeing a bad side of it, but the bad side seems to go on for blocks and blocks. At least in Cromwell I could get into the residential part of town almost at once.

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Comments

[Kevan]

Visitors Centre
It's here http://maps.google.co.nz/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=taupo+visitor+centre&aq=&g=5+Story+Place,+Taupo+3330&ie=UTF8&hq=visitor+centre&hnear=Taupo,+Waikato&ll=-38.685677,176.068954&spn=0.012746,0.023024&z=16