Carolina Kiwis: Bound for Lake Taupo

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Mark has got two long work weeks in a row coming up, so we wanted to get out of town and do something special this weekend. We decided to head for Lake Taupo, the largest lake in New Zealand (and arguably the entire Southern Hemisphere), located south of us in the center of the North Island. It's bordered to the south by Tongariro National Park, one of the first National Parks in the world, the setting of some of the LOTR scenes (mostly Mordor), and boasting three active volcanoes (Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe, and Tongariro) - the highest mountains on the North Island, which can be seen in the distance across the lake in Taupo.

To get to Lake Taupo, we had to drive through Rotorua, where we encountered what had to be at least a thousand bicyclists doing the Rotorua to Taupo 100K race. Thus, the driving pace to Taupo was agonizingly slow, since the highway was only two lanes and passing opportunities were few and far between. Things got pretty hairy several times when the shoulder narrowed and you had the bicyclists and two 18-wheelers passing in opposite directions on a twisty two-lane blacktop.

A pair of sheiks, er...cyclists not taking themselves too seriously

After stopping for gas and a snack (Sherry has since forever-banned Mark from eating any more gas-station beef rolls), we headed for Aratiatia Dam to catch the noon opening of the dam (it opens three times a day), which Sherry wanted to see. She was expecting a dam along the lines of Hoover Dam, and was a little disappointed by the less-than-imposing structure, but watching the picturesque Waikato riverbed and lagoon filling up so rapidly to become a raging torrent was pretty cool. The Aratiatia Rapids that the water creates were the inspiration for the flooding of Isengard in The Two Towers. We brought a picnic lunch to enjoy while we watched the action from the bridge above. The Waikato River is NZ's longest river, and is dammed in multiple locations after it leaves Lake Taupo, supplying about half the North Island's energy needs.

Waikato Riverbed filling up below Aratiatia Dam

Sherry overlooking the nearly full Waikato River, the now-raging Aratiatia Rapids winding away in the distance

Our next stop on the way to Taupo was Craters of the Moon, a geothermal area with more fumaroles and craters than we could count. There was a huge, deep, bubbling mud pool, and a side trail that takes you up on the ridge above the park for a commanding view. Ro was starting to fade near the end of the hour-long circuit, so Mark let him ride on his shoulders. Although the park was pretty unearthly-looking, we probably would have been more impressed if we'd done it before we saw White Island.

Mark at Craters of the Moon

Ro taking a break on Mark's shoulders

Sherry at a bubbling mud pool

Arguably the most famous site on the north end of the lake, our next stop was Huka Falls. The Waikato River narrows from about 100m down to 15m, and the resulting rapids through the gorge are spectacular, with water flowing at 220,000 liters/second. The actual final cliff the falls drop down is only 6m, but it seems higher because the surface of the large volume of water is nearly twice that height. It basically gives the effect of a giant, thunderous fire hose. We have never seen bluer water - it looks like Aqua Velva!

Sherry at Huka Falls

Sherry & Ro overlooking the Waikato River just above the falls

Driving into the town of Taupo on the northeast end of the lake, we spotted a park with a big playground near the shore, so we stopped to let Ro bounce around for a while. Sherry had to "spend a penny," and fortunately there was a Superloo which looked to be the most popular place in town with all the mothers and young kids around the park. There was an official All-Blacks merchandise store across the street, which Mark could easily have dropped a small fortune in, but restricted himself to a couple of rugby jerseys. We spent quite a bit of time at the park, not knowing we would revisit it a couple more times while in Taupo. They even had an electric-powered swing for people in wheelchairs, a nice concession in a country where we've yet to see any braille on ATM's or elevators.

Seek and ye shall find

We walked along the lake shore for a little while, but Ro was getting tired, so Ro & Sherry relaxed on a bench overlooking the lake, while Mark headed across the street to scope out motels, as we didn't have any reservations. He stopped briefly to watch some golfers attempting to hit golf balls from the cliff overlooking the shore onto a platform about 100m into the lake to win the hole-in-one challenge. Not sure what the prize was, but with the large queue of people waiting to drive balls, it must have been pretty good. Fortunately, there was a nice place with a vacancy not even a block away called the Great Lake Motel. Nothing special, but it did have a big spa tub that Ro wanted to play in as soon as he saw it.

Ro & Sherry taking a break on the shore of Lake Taupo

We were all famished by the time we checked into the motel, so with Ro re-energized after his bath, we headed down the block to the main drag in town. We ended up eating at Steak & Ale - much better than and no relation to the defunct US establishment of the same name. We kept Ro busy while waiting for our food by teaching him to play "I Spy", which he loved. We've found the meat in New Zealand to be a little different than back home - fatty in Sherry's opinion, well-marbled in Mark's; this place was no exception, but the flavor was very good.

After dinner, Ro wanted to go back across the street to the park. Sherry was exhausted after the long day, so Mark took one for the team and went with Ro to the park, while Sherry walked back to the motel to soak in a hot bath in blissful solitude. Getting Ro to finally leave the park as the sun set and walk back to the motel along the lake shore was about a 45-minute process (for a 5 minute walk), as he had to stop and inspect or climb every remotely interesting object we passed. His first request when we got back to the room was that he wanted to play Morrowind, not realizing Mark didn't bring his laptop. We can't decide if the game is a net plus or minus for him. At least he's learning computer skills and some reading (or at least word recognition), which in our mind beats vegging out in front of the Disney Channel watching Hannah Montana or some of the other patronizing crap that passes for kid's entertainment these days. But he's starting to call animals by their Morrowind name! Anything that crawls on the ground is a mudcrab, any bird is a cliff racer, any funny-looking person is an orc, etc...