Clarion Suites Sacred Waters Taupo

... emerald lake & the blue lake were so clear; we had perfect views of the lakes, the grass, mountains topped with snow, so tranquil & majestic. We had to walk across snow!!! So much fun when it was flat land, however a little scary when the snow path narrowed to about 30cm/40cm wide & we were on a slope. Really scary :(. After we passed all the nice views, we had a good 4k walk looking towards Lake Taupo. Then 4k in a ...

... 3am the 3 snow ploughs we were told were coming were no longer coming and the army are on they way! YaY! Unfortunatly for us, when the army truck arrived, it got to the car we were in and they were full! We would be on the next one at 7am. BBrrrrr cold! <br>Got on the army truck - called unimogs with chains on their wheels, Sat on there shivering for about 45 minutes while getting off the mountain and to an all girls maroi school for food and ...

... With Dinosaurs here.<br><br>We got back in the van and drove to Haka Falls, which were amazing and the water looks really clear and cool blue. (Its probably freezing though!)<br><br>We then had lunch at the prawn farm, and had the best prawns we have ever eaten. Yum!<br><br>We have now headed onto the Hawkes Bay area, the wine growing region of NZ, and hope to go wine tasting!

... ready to explore a little of Wellington. I didn't see much of the city but it did seem compact and I enjoyed walking around the central area and had tea at Starbucks along Lamberts Quay which seemed to be Wellington's equivalent Oxford Street (London!) I didn't have time to go up on the Gondola as I needed to get on te road for the long drive ahead. I just managed to beat the rush hour traffic out of the city but the drive out of the city was extremely busy ...

... Then it's all downhill, and while the mountain and ridge you are on isn't that pretty, the velley out below you is spectacular. The good stuff happens early in the trip... but the less good stuff is still pretty damned good. 3. It is the perfect length and difficulty. 19.4 km is 11.65 miles. As hikes go, that's really not hugely long. Anyone can do it, people of all ages shapes and sizes ...

... for this scale will become clearer later.... So, Coffee Plus gets a good old 'jet-ski' for it's decent coffee and alright cake. Anyway, moving on, we decided to try out an activitiy for our second day in Taupo so we booked ourselves onto the 'Huka Falls Jet' for 10:30 in the morning. Linky: http://www.hukafallsjet.com/page/5-Home It was GREAT! The twin-engine v8 boat speeds along the river at 80km/h and the scenery is fantastic! The driver also does a number of 360 ...

... du pays : 18,5 km, dénivelés d'environ 1000m. Il est donc très apprécié des randonneurs et des touristes (comme moi...lol). C'est pourquoi, toute une campagne d'information/intimidation est mise en place. Suite à tout ce que j'avais lu, j'avais presque peur de faire cette rando qui avait l'air vraiment difficile. Finalement, c'est passé tout seul. C'était même beaucoup moins fatiguant que "Pinnacle Walk" que j'avais fait quelques jours ...

... geothermal feature yet - since it looked perfectly normal but turned out to be hotter than a hot bath. The stream itself was, in fact, too hot to bathe in but where it met the main river the dilution made it quite comfortable. Even so, it was very odd to have the top of your body in a thin layer of warm/hot water and the bottom in icy-cold river water. We relaxed for a while in the sun, then climbed back up the hill, had an improvised shower next to the van using our tap ...

... what we saw, for me New Zealand = Ireland + Alps + a unique special vibe. In other words, it is everywhere breathtaking and you just want to stop the car every 200m to take a photo of another sublime scenery. We wanted to do the Tongariro Alpine crossing, but it was closed so we went for a guided trek: the ascent of Ruapehu, the highest mountain of the North Island (2754m ...

... to Queenstown soon as "Winterfestival" starts on the 23rd, so my plans might change. Anyway, the bus took us up Mt. Victoria - the views of the city and harbour were amazing from up there and you could really feel the wind pushing you, the vibe in the air here is really good too - I can tell that I am going to like it a lot. An early night was had as we were so shattered from our escapades in Taupo, and I finally managed to catch up with my journal!!!