Waitahanui Lodge Taupo

... lbs trout – shame I didn’t have my rod!!

Left here at around 4:45 PM and headed for Orakei Korako Thermal park but it closes at 5:30 PM, so we may go back tomorrow. Stopped in a Holiday park called All Seasons tonight and we are heading into Taupo to celebrate Bronwens birthday. All in all a brilliant day and the weather was really good today as well – BONUS!!!

Distance Travelled today – 103 km. Total Distance travelled 3102 Km.

... only German policeman in New Zealand. He gave us a warning and let us off without a fine for going around seventeen kilometres per hour over the speed limit. Luck was on our side.

The necessary swiftness of our trip actually proved to be beneficial. It gave us no time to reflect on what we were about to do. This meant I wasn't even slightly nervous when we arrived at the airstrip with ten minutes to spare. Now, I am certainly not a brave person by any means ...

... look up a motel and key it into Garmin, she kindly took me straight there. What a relief to have such a cute little room with all the essentials plus a TV! I was on the road early next morning for the last leg of the drive to Taupo. As it was extremely cold and there were snow warnings I had to check that the Desert Road as its called, across a high plateau, was open. I was lucky there was a lot of snow around but the road was clear although twelve hours ...

Well, this morning was a total disaster. The worst possible thing that could happen did happen: after being told that Tongariro would be open and waking up at 6:20 AM, it was cancelled due to extreme weather. I was beside myself and so upset I could **********tain it. We don't have a whole lot of time, and staying an extra day to wait is going to be tough given what we are losing on the South Island, but we want to do it. We were worried ...

... 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 ...

... française que j'avais déjà vue à Auckland), c'est marrant de se retrouver là toutes les 2... 07/02/09: Yoga matinal au bord du lac... (je ne pouvais pas quitter Taupo sans dire aurevoir à ce cher lac...). Puis je prends le bus pour Wellington. Sur le chemin, nous longeons Tongariro National Park, qui aujourd'hui n'est pas recouvert de nuages... C'est magnifique... Dommage qu'il n'ait pas fait aussi beau la veille pendant ma randonnée.

... volcanic area and indeed found lots of good examples to test the teory that they'd float. Personally, I was dubious but was impressed to see that, however big a piece was chosen and thrown in, it bobbed on the surface like a ball. Mildly amazed by floating rocks then (and having pocketed a few good examples), we turned back into town and up the hill to call at a supermarket and then to park at Spa Thermal Park. We'd read that this was the best place to sample thermal ...

... it was close to sunset and we could see bits of the alpine highlights off Mt Rupeha over the lake. It was just so picturesque. Taupo is one place we felt soo good we felt we didn't mind moving to here! We ate a hotstone dinner by the lake, admiring the view with 1 mixed grill set of beef lamb pork, and 1 kids meal to share amongst 3 of us. Their portions are huge and expensive! Tasty NZ beef! Reid's ...

... that was developed here in NZ due to all the braided rivers (aparantly). So we were given our lifevests and waterproofs and were soon in the boat all squished up together holding on to the heated hand rail - it was quite cold this morning - and then we were off - it does go so very fast - and then at random intervals it throws in a 360 degree spin and goes so close to the walls at other points that you think you are going to crash it was ...

... gezegd dat ik stevige schoenen aan moest doen, dus had ik mijn wandelschoenen aangedaan. Maar volgens Volker waren deze veels te zwaar, naast de kans dat er een touwtje van de parachute aan een van de haakjes vast kon komen zitten. Dat werd dus springen met blote voeten. Hihi, volgens mij kon dat nog best wel eens grappig zijn... Goed, overal aan, harnas aan, een korte instructie (ik moest een bananenhouding aannemen als we sprongen; voeten naar achteren omhoog en mijn ...