Taupo

Friday 3 November - Monday 6 November 2000

Weekend to Taupo

The Taupo region incorporates the southern part of the thermal belt that extends from White Island in the Bay of Plenty through Rotorua to Tongariro National Park. Hot springs appear in several places around Lake Taupo, which is actually a volcanic crater. Just north of Taupo underground steam has been harnessed for electricity generation. One of the few outlets from the lake is the mighty Waikato River, New Zealand's longest river, which gushes through a narrow chasm at the Huka Falls.

Friday 3rd November: After a regular day at work for Martijn and a day of preparing and packing for Ingrid, we left for Taupo just after 5pm for the 370 kilometer trip.

After having dinner in a very nice restaurant in Taihape along the way and the desert road trip in the dark, we finally arrived at the on Two Mile Bay at about 10.15pm.

 

Saturday 4th November: The first noticable thing was the magnificent view of the peaks of Tongariro Park.

Across Lake Taupo is Tongariro Park. On the left is the largest volcanic peak on New Zealand's North Island - mount Ruapehu (2,796 metres); in the middle the typically volcan-shaped mount Ngauruhoe (2,290 metres) and on the right is mount Tongariro (1,968 metres).

After this breathtaking start of the day, we went to see the "Craters of the Moon". In this area, just north of Taupo in Wairakei Park is quite some thermal activity on the surface of the earth with mud pools and steam vents:

There is a track laid out of wood and gravel that allows you as close as is safe near the craters.

Also in Wairakei Park are the Huka Falls, where the Waikato River surges over an 11-metre shelf:

Then it was lunchtime. As it happens, Wairakei Park contains Prawn Park that has a riverside restaurant which specialises in prawns. So that's where we went for lunch and it was excellent. In the afternoon we went on a cruise on Lake Taupo on the replica steamboat Ernest Kemp. Highpoint of this was the visit to the unique Maori Rock Carvings.

From the lake mount Tauhara is very nice. It is said that this little mountain range looks like a woman lying on her back with her face on the right (forehead - nose - chin) and body more to the left (bosom and belly). Can you see it?

At the end of this very nice day we had a good family dinner at

Weather: overcast about 16ºC.

 

Sunday 5th November: We went to Cherry Island in the morning, but it was raining so hard that we decided to go shopping in the centre of Taupo. Today's lunch consisted of foot-long bread rolls from

Then we visited the volcanic activity centre where you can see and learn about the power of our planet. The main event here is probably the continuous films about the 1995/1996 eruptions of Mt Ruapehu. After this we just managed to see the last opening of the Aratiatia dam at 4pm. Within just a couple of minutes these photos were taken at the start of the Aratiatia rapids:

At the end of another holi-day, we freshened up for dinner, which we had yet again at Cobb & Co.

Weather: mostly rain 13ºC.

 

Monday 6th November: The trip back home.

Since it was still a very rainy day, we were not able to see the Tongariro peaks up close. We did have a great lunch though at the TexMex in Foxton! When we arrived back in Wellington, the sun was finally shining...

Weather: rain clearing, about 15ºC.