Trip to New Zealand - Part 3 - Taupo

Friday 2 April 2010 (Good Friday)

Zac picked me up on Friday morning and after a quick stop to the chemist and servo we were on our way to Taupo. I used to drive the Hamilton Taupo Road all the time when I lived in Taupo and its always a nice scenic drive.

View of Lake and mountains from our batch
Upon getting to Taupo we meet up with Debra, who had come from Tauranga and went to explore our abode for the next couple of days. The batch we hired was really nice and if you are going to Taupo let me know and will give you the details. It was a lockwood home but was toasty warm, especially with the fire and had plenty of space. The only thing wrong with it was I am sure there are GHOSTS, there were a lot of strange noises ... although more "less believing" people put it down to the fact that because it was a lockwood home there was a lot of wood creaks especially when it heated up with the fire.

As we got there early on Friday Debra, Zac and myself headed into town to have some lunch and then stopped by the information centre to find out what sort of fun things we could do in Taupo. We decided to head out to Craters of the Moon - Craters of the Moon Thermal Area is a region with geothermal activity north of Taupo, New Zealand. It has numerous steam vents, constantly shifting, collapsing and reforming giving the whole area desolate appearance. All the craters at The Craters of the Moon are the result of hydrothermal eruptions. The pressure of the steam beneath the surface exceeds the pressure exerted by the weight of the overlying ground. This results in an explosion. A mixture of hot water, steam, hot mud and pumice is ejected into the air. Material may be blown up to 100 m, leaving behind holes or craters as deep as 20 m. Hydrothermal eruptions occur about once a year.

Maybe if I ever come back to New Zealand I thought I might start a business at the craters called "White Woman Cooking Food in a Hole" where I will cook delicious meals in the craters and play

relaxing mud bubble sounds ...

After Craters we headed into town to get some dinner, little did we know that the supermarkets would be closed for Good Friday, damm it, so we headed to a servo and stocked up on (expensive!) snacks and by chance found a butcher and vegie shop open where we got some sausages and salad for dinner.

When we arrived back to the batch Hayley and Sarah were there. The rest of the day was spent drinking in the sun, playing fun drinking games and then we headed into Taupo town for a bit of dancing

Drinking Games

On the right we have the fish game. Where everyone makes their own fish and then blows it across the table.

On the left we have the coin drinking game where people have various amounts of coins between their legs and have to walk so far and put them into a cup. You can see that Sarah and Zac both have different, but effective techniques. Below is Hayleys!

Saturday 3 April 2010 (Easter Saturday)

Today we all had a leisurely lie in and then went into Taupo town for a bit of a wander. Sarah and Hayley were leaving today and it was a sad goodbye because I am not sure when I will see them again.

That afternoon we decided to head to the prawn farm and try our hand at prawn fishing. Full of hope we grabbed our rods and bait and sought out a "good spot". Rods baited and in the water, we waited, and waited, and waited and then decided to move and waited, and waited, and waited and then moved again and waited and waited and waited, and then ... I think you get my drift.

Apparently prawn fishing isn't that easy, after an eternity I finally caught one, yah! I can tell you prawn fishing is quite an art. After a while we decided we couldn't be bothered anymore and went on a tour. Whilst we were on our tour, Zac caught a big prawn and someone gave him a few so at least we had a few to take home and taste.

Me feeding baby Prawns

That afternoon Jason and Juliet turned up to spend the night so as we wanted to go to some hot pools whilst we were in Taupo we thought we might try the free ones. When we went to the information centre we were given a free map that showed a section of the Taupo River that had hot water so we thought we would try it out. We were pleasantly surprised when we got there to find that the river was not only warm but actually quite hot and it made for a relaxing afternoon soak.

We spent the rest of the evening playing this really fun board game, which I forgot the name of now, but will have to get, eating the prawns (they weren't that nice, as they were freshwater they had quite a different taste) and eating birthday cake as it was close to my birthday. Thanks Zac for making a yummy cake, love the decorations!

Sunday 3 April 2010 (Easter Sunday)

That morning I said my goodbyes to Debra, I wasn't sure when I would see her again and wished her well on her journey to Wellington to start her new job!