Titilating Taupo
Trip Start
Dec 29, 2007
1
38
42
Trip End
Ongoing
Taupo,
North Island,
New Zealand
Friday, April 10, 2009
Huka Falls marked out first stop on the Waikato river just outside Taupo. Being the bright sparks they are, kiwis have made use of the natural attraction for hydroelectric power. The flow can reach 270 m3/s & it powers up to 65% of the north island. We wandered along a pathway upstream crossing a natural spa & shoals of trout before motoring to the Craters of the Moon track ($5 each). The path leads you through natural vegetation around a volcanic area full of fumaroles, minerals & stinking sulphur. With the hot gas & cold air we felt worthy of extras in a dodgy Wham video.
After booking into our lodge we took a peek around the town. During weekends & holiday season the town comes to life as it's a tourist haven. Accommodation had been booked out over a week in advance but many bars were shut as they are not allowed to sell alcohol during Easter without a special license.
The town sits on the lake front which makes for sweet views although most premises overlooking it are fast food joints! Again for Easter they were out to roger tourists with surcharges, even Burger Fuel .... oh sweet capitalism. With little else to do we mosied along to see a flick, ''The boat that rocked'' which rocked as much as constipation.
Being so close to Hawkes Bay, the Merlot capital of Nz, we took the 2 hour drive to Napier.
V huka falls
The city itself was flattened by an earthquake back in the 1930s & rebuilt in art deco style. The city really had a buzz about it. The main streets were thronged & cafes were jointed. After a stroll around the CBD & its bell chiming park we headed to the Te Mata cheese factory. There was no tour available nor samples unless you desired to empty your pockets & bend over. Rebellious as ever we did a U-turn & drove to the nearby Zeppelin winery. It made up for the disappointment mainly because we were offered free alcohol but it did taste good too. Another thing to tick off our list was the lookout point in Te Mata which gives 360 views of Hawkes Bay. The walking tracks from the peak are not directed so needless to say we strayed into the unknown longer than desired yet again. Cape Kidnappers requires a full day tramping so that was ruled out. The affluent towns of Havelock & Hastings are all within a ~30km radius so we took a sconce. Everything appeared meticulously clean. It's an area that will be revisited in summer I'm sure. After a thai in Napier we headed back knackered from all the driving.
Easter Sunday we opted to probe the hidden wonders of Taupo starting with an early stroll around the lake. The periphery is layered in holiday homes, dotted with early morning fitness fanatics & uber clean. As pleasant as the biting wind was, I fancied the idea of not freezing my nether regions so after a pick me up we checked out the Honey Hive on the outskirts. The facility is a shop & borderline museum for bee-keeping.
DV crater
It's a bit like Neverland, ideal for kids & you leave full of sugar! Being no different, we wobbled out 12 samples later...buzzing!A dose of prawn fishing seemed like a good remedy. With an advertised 30,000 prawns varying in size in each of their ponds I was thinking this is the Ritz. Once we had our rods & bait ($20pp) we were set to haul in prize sized prawns all day & feast like kings. Andrew had us champing at the bit catching one within a minute but then the rub of the green faded. I might as well have bottlefed my bait to the miserable runts after that & saved them the hassle of having to tug it off the hook constantly for the next 4 hours. We caught 3 more before taking the hint & leaving.
A glass blowing facility, Lava Glass, sits around the corner so we stopped in for a behind the scenes peak ($5pp). The whole process is striking & you especially appreciate the speed at which they finish an item & how simple they make the designs look. Some of the larger pieces take up to a month to cool. All the products in the giftshop cost a fortune as expected when you have energy bills of $7k a month. As a result, there are few artists who practise the art form.
In case I needed any reassurance on how bad my short game was before light faded, a game of mini golf reinstated it fortunately not at the loss of a putter! After stuffing ourselves with the single prawn each from earlier, a Pizza Hut buffet sounded like music to our ears. Again the nightlife was non existant so we met up with our flatmate Chris & returned to the faithful cinema for the awe inspiring ''Transporter 3''. I'm not sure I cried as much during Schindlers List.
After a weekend of culture, some non thumb twiddling activity was needed the last day. Mountain biking in the Redwoods of Rotorua fitted the bill. We rented some wheels from Planet Bike & hit the Whakarewarewa Forest ($45pp for the day). In a nutshell the runs were mental. I never knew whether I was going to be unseated or barely hang on. It wasn't until we were at the top of a climb I realised my brakes were dodgy, but I felt it added to the Evil Knievelness of the occasion ... despite white knuckles on every bend. Kids were overtaking us on the narrow tracks pedal to the metal. On some level 2 runs I had heart palpitations so level 6 would have been V-fib but we were hooked. A trip to the golden arches brought the escapade to an end & aided us on the long & winding road....
