Monday 27th Feb Lake Taupo (20 degrees)

Leaving Rotorua we had a short journey to Taupo, a beautiful town located on the banks of the huge Lake Taupo. We saw many more areas of geothermal activity on our drive as well as areas where the cyclone had either uprooted or torn huge branches off large pine trees. We stopped in at the visitor centre in Taupo to sort out our plans for the rest of the day, before heading to the Huka Falls on the Waikato Rivers. A short walk took us to various viewing areas of these impressive falls. We then drove on to the Aratiatia Dam. This is a hydro-electric dam but water is also deliberately released from the dam three times a day to recreate the rapids that were once here. This is a tourist attraction. We watched the opening of the gates and the ensuing rapids before boarding a boat to go on a beautiful and relaxing river cruise. The cruise was fantastic, particularly the wonderful commentary from the skipper. He carefully took the boat right up to the Huka Falls and we were able to take some pretty spectacular pictures. Returning to our starting point, we decided to walk to an observation lookout area to see the released water from the dam make its way down over the rocks, creating the rapids. Returning to Taupo, we checked into our accommodation, a beautiful unit only a few hundred metres from the shore of the lake. After settling in, we ventured down to the harbour and stepped onto another boat, the Earnest Kemp, a replica steamboat. This boat took us out into the huge Lake Taupo to see the famous Maori Rock carvings. Again we were blessed with a lovely afternoon, despite it being a little overcast and the 2 hour journey passed very quickly. On the boat we saw a couple wearing “Pirate Life Brewery” tops. We knew that the tops were for the brewery in Adelaide, so asked the woman if they were from Adelaide. Sure enough they were, and lived only a couple of kilometres away from us! We spent lots of time chatting with them and both of us had many things in common. We had booked a local place for dinner and asked them to join us which they did. We had a wonderful night full of good conservation, great food and lots of fun. It finished off another great day in New Zealand.