Black swan


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Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Taupo
February 7th 2011
Published: February 10th 2011
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6th February 2011

This morning was meant to be another early wake, but somehow we had remained in the land of slumber until the shockingly late hour of 7:15am, practically a lie-in for us early risers!

On pulling back the curtains we realised why this had occurred. We were blanketed in mist, dampening any sound, had there been any to wake us in this remote spot, and in the process removing any chance of being woken by the sun.

Neither of us was keen to shake of the arms of slumber once we had woken, and we dozed for a short while before finally stirring enough to make a cuppa (much easier when camping these days as neither of us need milk after our time in Asia, and so we don‘t need to worry about it going off) A couple of games of cards and some blogging occurred as we tried to avoid doing anything today. Eventually we had to face the day and decide if we would go through with our plan to head back on ourselves a little and get on the train to Wellington, NZ’s capital, or give up on today as a bad day given it’s poor start and our lethargy.

We eventually came to the decision (surprisingly for us) that we are only here once and so we should really go and make the most of it, and head into the capital. (For the long term readers of our blog this is a total juxtaposition to our stance earlier on our travels, we know, but it is our prerogative to change our mind and we are exercising it! The significant difference, we think, is that we are in a country from which we have a flight booked to leave, thus making each day a little more precious. )

So it was that we got on the road south back to Paraparamua, the end of the Tranz Metro line that we were nearest. On reaching Paraparamua we had a couple of items to buy in the supermarket opposite the train station. With the fresh ice for our chilly bin purchased, we moved to the station. As we had gotten back into the van in the supermarket car park the man in the car next to us had informed Lou that it was meant to be the hottest day of the year today, but there was no sign of it in this grey mist shrouded car park.

Our day wasn’t improving and as we got into the train station we realised that the Sunday service had been replaced by buses to the capital - meaning our journey would be slower and more cramped, and less scenic (if indeed there was anything to see in this misty haze)

We got into the capital over an hour later and on the journey the weather hadn’t improved much to our disappointment. However we still had hopes for something of interest as this city is described as buzzing, and it is after all Whaitangi Day, a national holiday (they have them on the day, so no bank holiday Monday for any kiwi’s this year) As we wandered away from the station and into town it was clear that the weather, the hangover from the Wellington 7’s rugby tournament, the biggest fixture in the calendar here from what we can ascertain, which finished yesterday (where NZ beat England in the final) and the holiday meant that this place was as lively as a wake.

This was doing our sluggish selves no good at all, and as such we stopped for brunch to try and liven up. This didn’t work either as my coffee was so dire I didn’t drink it and sent it back.

We were both starting to think that we had made the wrong decision today and should have stayed in bed, or gone north.

Anyway, after this pit stop we did the only thing we had the energy to do, headed to the cinema.

This surely was something that couldn’t go wrong? The first cinema we got to, had a variety of listings but nothing soon enough that we wanted to see, so we moved onwards to the next, which turned out to be an art house place with nothing we knew anything about. So we turned around and returned to the first. Here we queued for our tickets at the concession kiosk (being a Sunday the ticket booth was closed) and after a long wait we ordered our tickets and some drinks and popcorn.

No medium popcorn! Ok we’ll upgrade to a large then. There, will be a wait on the coffee, OK I’ll skip it and have a 7 up then - somebody doesn’t
SunsetSunsetSunset

the one redeeming feature of a bad day
like us today!
We got into the cinema and sat down -at least the seats had a reasonable view and were comfortable.

Anyway we had decided to watch a film called Black Swan (prior to this I knew little to nothing apart from the actress - Natalie Portman, was tipped for an Oscar for her role)

On leaving the cinema nearly two hours later I think shock was the only word that would describe my state. This film was mentally taxing but not in an intellectual way. It was about a ballerina’s descent into madness through her performance of swan lake, and eventual death. Complete with some masturbation, and anorexic undertones. Why had nobody warned me? This was the last thing I needed on a crappy Sunday afternoon - I should have been in a pub watching some football with a fire!

That is the last time I watch a film without knowing something about it.

With the film done we headed back to the train station to catch our replacement bus. An hour or so later getting off, and getting into the van we decided that we would try and find a Sunday roast lamb, so we drove around Paraparamu. Nearly 45 minutes later having got lost in suburbia , and discovering that in just about every part of NZ except where we were it was the hottest day of the year, and even broke all time high temperature records in the South Island peaking at over 40 C, we finally found a pub serving food. The board outside advertising “Roast of the Day” so we went in. I asked what the roast was and after the waitress checked, returning to tell me it is only served at lunchtime! Genius!

So we ordered non-roast dinner (which was actually pretty good) and headed home for the night.

Home was going to be on the road further north from where we had stayed the previous night, but during the course of the day we had both decided that we were too tired to move and would return to the same campsite. So off we went in that direction. As we neared the turning for the campsite the effects of a decent meal were starting to take hold and I decided to push on to the next site up the road.

This meant another hour
The largest pastries ever?The largest pastries ever?The largest pastries ever?

the bag of sweets is purely for scale and not for breakfast!
to an hour and a half of driving north. So with Lou acting as co-pilot we ignored the turning to the campsite we had stayed at last night and carried on up the road.

The directions were flawless, and typically as we drove north the mist was left behind and the sun came out, if only fleetingly before dropping beyond the horizon. We finally pulled into the campsite, and unlike the description in the guidebook there was a charge (not what we wanted) and it was next to a graveyard!

With Lou unhappy we moved onwards. The next two hours, driving in the direction of Taupo, (tomorrow’s destination) with a few detours off the main in search of suitable places to stop were not fun. I was nearly asleep at the wheel, yet Lou was unhappy to stop anywhere that wasn’t a designated campsite - in town we were too noticeable, in the country we were too remote. Eventually I pulled over and Lou took over, and as today was clearly trying to spoil our fun at that moment with Lou almost as tired as I was, the long straight dull roads turned into windy ones, with steep gradients. Luckily in our daze we had travelled so far that we were no longer too far from another recognised campsite, eventually we pulled into this place, which was nearly deserted, and climbed into the back to sleep. Both of us hoping that this wasn’t a turning point for our NZ adventure, but merely a blip.

7th February 2011

We were confident that having had such a bad day yesterday things could only improve this morning - after all we had made significant in roads into the journey distance for today in our unfortunately extended drive last night.

So when we surfaced at a relatively late hour we weren’t overly concerned by our delayed start. We got on the road relatively swiftly and made some pretty good progress. We stopped in Taihape for something for breakfast and found in the supermarket, the only shop open at just prior to 8am, some of the largest pastries we had ever seen. I, unusually for me, opted for the sweet chocolate version, whilst Lou had a savoury number.
At this point we swapped roles and I took the wheel. We drove onwards through the vegetation on the windy roads, hard to credit it that this is SH1 the main thoroughfare through the country for all vehicles including trucks. Being a truck driver here would not be fun, but would be a damn site more beautiful.

We passed Waioru and on leaving the town the landscape changed quite dramatically, leaving behind any thoughts of greenery. Suddenly we were under a blue sky with the sun beating down on the rocks that surrounded us in all directions. The most dramatic thing of all though was the ominous shape of Mount Ruapehu, better known as Mount Doom, the final resting place of the “One Ring” and Smeagol/Gollum. At 2590m above sea level it is the largest mountain in the North Island and dominates the skyline, as well as the surrounding plains.

We continued on the road and as soon as the moonscape of rock had appeared, it vanished once again to be replaced by vegetation as we started our descent down from the high volcanic plain towards Lake Taupo. With the change in vegetation came the obligatory change in road conditions, from arrow straight on the plains, to winding snakelike bends as we descended into the vegetation and crossed
The falls themselvesThe falls themselvesThe falls themselves

not high but powerful
the various crevices, and valleys.

We stopped for petrol in Turangi on the Southern shore of Lake Taupo and then proceeded anti-clockwise around the lake heading for Taupo itself. On the drive in to town we passed the airport, where I had previously jumped out of a plane with only my own ability to parachute to rely on (I wasn’t attached to anybody else, but there were instructors close by)

We drove into town and after a quick circuit to get our bearings headed for the holiday park we had selected and parked up. As always in this situation the first thing to do is shower, as it has been a couple of days. This is swiftly followed by charging various electronics.

With this achieved we headed back out into the heat of the day, unusually for us in the van. We normally leave the van behind when we are in a town and on a site, as items can continue to charge and we spend enough time in it anyway without opting for more. However we both agreed that it would make for a faster trip to take it, also we were both quite tired and didn’t fancy walking.

So we headed to Huka Falls, as our first stop. We got there in no more than 10 minutes in the car, which was probably the same time it would have taken us to walk. Anyway this waterfall is unlike any other I have ever come across - instead of cascading vertically down a huge drop, these are impressive in an entirely different way.

The water from Lake Taupo, has carved out a gorge, which acts like a funnel. This funnel speeds up the water that enters it so that at the bottom of the gorge, it is moving at a considerable pace. Over the years the gorge has been carved out so that it is pretty deep also, meaning that a huge volume of water is flowing here at pace. When all this water exits the gorge it is a raging torrent, which doesn’t drop a huge distance but the energies involved are extremely high, making it more dangerous than most waterfalls from height. (It says something that there are no rafting experiences down this set of falls)

The pictures sort of explain what I am trying to explain but the power cannot truly be conveyed by still images. The aerated water is a bright aqua colour (when it isn’t white) and is quite a dazzling sight to behold, even on an overcast day like today.

From here we headed back up the road to the lookout point, where we could take in the view over the lake. Then into town to check out the sights. As I remembered, there aren’t many sights in Taupo, but it nonetheless has some charm to it. We did a quick circuit of the town and then headed into a bar that I had been in a few times when previously here - I think it had changed hands as wasn’t as I remembered it but then again maybe my memories aren’t that accurate of the inside of a bar in daylight!

We left and passed the kids getting off the Kiwi Experience Bus, which I had been on last time - are we glad we didn’t do that this time round. We would have been the oldest people on it by some considerable margin.

Home via the supermarket, for some provisions and a nice early ish night lazing in the comforts of our van with power.

Whilst far from our best day, it had gone a small way to erasing the trauma of the day before (apart from seeing an evil looking Black Swan on our arrival to Taupo)




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