Lake Taupo

From Rotorua we travelled south to Lake Taupo, again the weather was stunning and after arriving at our lovely hostel we went for a walk to the Lake which was huge. The Lake was amazingly clear and with the Glaziers from a nearby National Park in the back drop it looked stunning (Postcard material). On a walk around the town, we came across a McDonalds, nothing new there i hear you say. Well this one had an old used Aeroplane attached to it for the kids to play on, and not a small one either. I couldn't get on it as i was too old. Gutted.

The following day we went on a very very long walk to the Huka Falls and the Craters of the Moon. Along the way we passed a stream running down through the Hills and into the river. The stream believe it or not was red hot and ran into a little pond like area before heading into the river, so we stripped off and had a bathe for a while. The heat of the water comes froms the volcanic elements underground. After this we carried on with our walk to the Huka Falls, about a 2 hr trek but well worth it when we arrived. a fast rapid stretch of water. We then stupidly decided to carry on our walk to Craters of the Moon, another 2 hr walk. this was again a load of craters with bubbling water, mud and steam coming out of them. this took about 40 mins to walk round, as we were both so tired, we just walked round with our heads bowed failing to take it in. After this we were left with the task of a 4 hr walk back but fortunately a couple from our hostel were just leaving the place as we were and thankfully offered us a lift back. Heroes, both of them.

The final day, as it was a very hot day, we decided to head down to the beach at the Lake and have a swim. the Lake was surprisingly warm so we just spent hours idling about swimming and sun bathing, follwed by a movie and some beers back at the hostel.

Lee