Thermal Taupo

• Moppet77's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from Taupo

Trip Start Jun 24, 2008 Previous
Entry Trip End Aug 10, 2008 Next
Entry

  Taupo, North Island, New Zealand
Wednesday, August 6, 2008

After a week in New Zealand, Paul and I have come to the same conclusion--we like New Zealand a lot better than Australia.  This may come as a surprise to many Americans who, like ourselves, thought of Australia and New Zealand as the same country.  As much as we liked Australia, we have come to realize that it is very different from New Zealand.  It's hard to put your finger on what the difference is.  I think for me, it's partly the landscape (Australia is the driest continent, while New Zealand is very lush and green) and partly the people (who are even nicer than in Australia).  As a person of the brown persuasion, I also find New Zealand a lot more diverse than Australia and feel a bit more comfortable here.  We also respect that the Maori have a very strong presence in New Zealand in a way the Aborigines of Australia did not.  While the Maori also suffered as a result of colonization, they fought back a lot harder and earned a grudging respect that the Aborigines and Native Americans did not.   That respect manifests itself in a way that is very different from the apologies to the Aborigines that ran rampant around Australia

Big Fish

. 

But, anyway, back to our trip.  After we left the caves, we headed to Taupo.  Taupo sits on a lake, and is a hotbed of geothermal activity.  As such, it is well-known for its thermal and mineral pools.  We arrived late our first night, so we pretty much just crashed.  Our motel room was freezing, but I learned the joys of an electric blanket and now want one (hint, hint).  The next day,  we headed out to do a bit of shopping.  My first stop was the Champions Store for some All Blacks team gear.  The All Blacks are New Zealand's national rugby team--the name is apparently in reference to the fact that their uniforms back in the day were all black.  As we were checking out, the store owner asked us where we were from and then produced a black and white photo of a rugby team and said we would get a free prize if we could identify the person who was circled.  Assuming it was someone from Australia, I said I didn't know.  But Paul guessed George Bush, and it turned out to be him.  You could have knocked me over with a feather!  Never in a million years would I have guessed that he would actually get dirty and physical himself--normally he just sends someone else's kids to do his dirty work.  But I will try harder to eave my political view out of my travel blog.  Paul's prize?  One black and white striped New Zealand sock.  "What good is one sock going to do us?"  I asked.  The owner told us that we would need to visit one of the other Champions stores in New Zealand to get the other one.  I had to respect the marketing savvy--it was an ingenious way to get us to another store, thereby increasing the likelihood that we would buy some more over-priced athletic gear.

My second stop that day was the liquor store for some wine

The Photo

.  There, I discovered this great brand of wine called "punchline."  I was confused because I picked up a bottle, and the front of it said "...shi tzu" and had a picture of a little dog in a cage.  When I turned it over, it said "a man went to the zoo and all it had was a dog in a cage.  It was a..."  And then I got it--the zoo with only a dog in a cage was a shi tzu.  You have to say it out loud to really get it.  There were a few more, including one that went something along the lines of a man walks into a psychiatrist's office wearing nothing but saran wrap, and the psychiatrist says "I can see you're nuts."  Hee-hee. 

After running our errands, we went to visit the hot mineral pools.  Well, Paul visited the pools while I went to get a massage.  It was a great massage, and my masseuse was fascinating.  She was Maori and still practices the Maori traditions.  She was telling me about her tribe and where there canoe landed (the history is that 7 canoes full of people arrived in New Zealand many years ago and separated into different tribes).  She would refer to the volcano and the moon as "He."  We discussed a number of things ranging from the difference between Australia and New Zealand, the reason New Zealanders are so sporty ("there's nothing else to do"), and recipes for pumpkin soup (her secret ingredient is coconut milk).  She was fascinating.  And a great masseuse, too

Paul and His Sock Prize

. 


The next day, Paul and I visited the Huka Falls and Crater of the Moon.  Huka Falls are where the Waikato River (which is normally more than 100 meters wide) forces itself through a chute of rock that is only 15 feet wide.  It was pretty cool, although Paul made us do the 2-hour hike instead of drive and, as usually happens when Paul makes us take long hikes, it started to rain on us.  We then stopped by the Craters of the Moon, which is where there are a bunch of craters dispensing huge puffs of steam into the air as a result of the geothermic activity.  It was interesting to see (and the steam was great for my skin), although it does make you very cognizant of everything going on underground and a bit nervous about being in an area of active volcanoes. 

All right, that's it for now--our next stop is Rotorua, where we will meet up with Connie and Jeremy again.

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

Lake Taupo	McDonald's?	Crater of the Moon	Craters of the Moon
Big Crater	Lots of Steam	Big Steam Cloud	Paul and a Cloud of Steam
Waikato River	Huka Falls	Paul	The Waikato River Just Before Chute

Slideshow Print this entry Share

Previous Entry Next Entry