Hot hot hot
Trip Start
Aug 07, 2008
1
62
79
Trip End
Ongoing
Taupo,
North Island,
New Zealand
Friday, January 9, 2009
the drive up, although beautiful was long. but regardless of the length, i would highly recommend it.. we drove up the main highway before verring off at tongariro national park. we had initially planned to do the one day tongariro alpine crossing trek, but after some input from people we decided against it. mainly, we didn't have the gear and on top of that, we were feeling at bit lazy... so onward to taupo via the volcanic areas.
we arrived in taupo a bit later than we wanted so we were absolutely STARVING! after a quick stop at the local Pak 'n Save, we arrived at our holiday park on a mission to cook some dinner... we unloaded our car and were heading to the communal kitchen when we hear "eunice!"... we turn around to see our friends Malcom and Julie from Ireland... coincidence at its best... the last people we expected to see... we met malcom and julie in Bukit Lawang, Indonesia about 2 months back... we and 4 others shared a van with this couple and ended up having a really cool time back in Sumatra... we said our goodbyes expecting only to see them in facebook... what a welcomed surprise!
we had dinner together both nights we were there... the second night we even cooked up a storm with grilled lamb, roasted pumpkins, etc...
in between the dinners, eunice and i opted for a short 2.5 hour hike to Huka Falls. "yes" there is a car park there to drive to, but we've been feeling fat since entering the western world, so we walked... good thing we did, cuz we would have missed out on some really nice scenery including Huka Falls and the warm water park. this area of the north island is mainly known for its geothermal activity... simply, volcanoes... the distance between the land surface and hot geothermal materials is very short so, there is literally steam coming from the ground in many areas... cool huh? i think so. thus, there are hot springs everywhere... and in the instance of this hot water park, the cold river water meets hot spring water and you have a comfortable area where the water is warm to bathe/swim in... interesting huh? i think so...
Comments
yo
hey, thanks for the postcard. we got it few weeks ago. good to see you guys are having a fun and exciting trip. we're off to korea in few weeks... woohoo!!!