Drive to Lake Taupo Monday-December 30, 2013

MONDAY - DECEMBER 30, 2013

BOTTOM LINE:

Drove from Rotorua to Taupo

Visited Te Puia Thermal Park and Huka Falls

BACK STORY:

This morning we got to sleep in a bit before packing up the bus and leaving at 9:30am.  It gave me time to give Bruce a haircut and organize our packing.  Each morning after hearing the weather report for the day, we pack our day packs with everything that we think we might need.  We are unable to get into our luggage once it has been stowed underneath the bus.

As mentioned before, people can hop on or off of the tour bus.  Today a number of people were missing making our group much smaller.

Today’s first activity (optional and extra charge) was to drive to Te Puia which is New Zealand’s most well known and visited thermal park.  The Maori Tribe operates the park.  On the property there is both a cultural section and the thermal part.

 

Geyser goes off every 20 minutes

Te Puia Thermal Park

We had a guide for our group who took us through the cultural part.  In it we were taken to their carving and weaving schools.  It is important for the tribe to hand down the stories and skills to the next generation or they will be lost forever.  It is an honor to be chosen to attend the school.

Carving intern

Weaving school

There was a beautiful worship/gathering building where the tribe would have meetings, social events and worshiping.  The highest point of the ceiling is considered the spine of the tribe.  The supporting beams represent the blood line of families within the tribe.  The ceilings remind the people of their ancestry and the fact that they are all related within the tribe.

Tribe gathering spot

 

Ceiling of worship center

The thermal park included geysers, boiling mud pots and steam vents…well infused with sulfur odors. The land was very important to the tribe used to defend the people.  It was also used for health and cooking purposes.  Our guide had a hand woven sack that he filled with chicken eggs.  He sealed the sack and lowered it into the boiling water of a pool for four minutes to cook the eggs…one example.

Cooking eggs in thermal pool

 

4 minute egg

There was a solitary small building on the grounds that housed the Kiwi Bird exhibit.  The birds are endangered in New Zealand and are very protected and loved by the people of this country.    

The birds are nocturnal so it was very dark inside.  No photography was allowed inside. The birds are nearly blind and the population has been dramatically reduced because of their predators...including domestic dogs.

As we drove to our next destination, we passed what looked like to me a nuclear power cooling tank.  Our driver/guide said that the country of New Zealand has a ban on nuclear power.  It only has hydro and geothermal.  The tower was for a geothermal.

Geothermal power plant

Next we made a short stop at Huka Falls. The falls are only 35 feet high, but it is the natural volume of water that rushes down a narrow Waikato River.  Skilled and somewhat crazy kayakers have been known to ride the rapids down and over the waterfalls.  We actually witnessed three kayakers go over the falls when we were here in 2006.  Crazy!

 

Waitoko River

35 Ft Huka Falls

From Huka Falls we drove a short distance into Taupo, which is situated on the north side of Taupo Lake.  The lake is the largest one in New Zealand.  The Island of Singapore could easily fit into the lake.

Arriving to Lake Taupo

Trout fishing is one of the famous sports in and around the lake.  Bruce is hoping to fish there tomorrow.  When we were here in 2006 he hired a guide to take him to a couple of rivers that feed into the lake.

Another activity done in this area is sky diving.  A number of the young tour mates tried doing it today, but the rainy weather dampened their changes.

water sports in the rain

Out on the lake sits a floating structure with a golf putting green on it.  By paying a fee, you have a shot at a hole in one from the shore.  If you make it, you win $10K!!!  Any takers?  LK?  Joleme?

Hole in one challenge

We were warned on the bus as we arrived in town that there were no private doubles available in our Base Hostel.  We would be in a dorm style sleeping arrangement for two nights. With tomorrow being New Years Eve, we didn’t want to share a dorm room with a bunch of drunk college kids.  As we dropped one female off at Urban Backpackers Hostel, Bruce ran in to ask about a double.  There were none.  Just as we began to drive away, the owner ran out and said that she could accommodate us! So, we got a private room and bath for two nights.  Thank you Lord!!!