Taupo 9.28.2009

So I wanted to see more of the country than the area directly surrounding Auckland. The islands I visited in the Hauraki Gulf were to satiate my desire for hiking and the natural environment, Coromandel was for history, and the city itself was for culture. But New Zealand is known for its adrenaline thrills--skydiving, bungy jumping, snow sports, river rafting and so on--and so I headed down to Taupo.

An inexpensive bus service runs from the Sky City tower to all parts of the North Island. It took about four hours to reach Taupo from Auckland, during which time I napped and looked through brochures for the area. When the bus arrived, it started to pour. Needless to say, the weather wasn't quite ideal for a visit to the local gardens or a walk around town. I hopped over to a travel agency and had them call me a shuttle service to Orakei Korako.

The shuttle was quite enjoyable. It was an independent business and the driver had her baby in the van, who kept smiling at the passengers and enjoyed playing with her mother's second set of keys.

The thermal park was interesting. In the middle of the forest, geysers and silica terraces from 150AD had found a home. I had never before pictured that the two could go together. In my mind, the concept of scalding waters equated with minimal plant life because I thought it would be too hot for survival, but some varieties of fern in the park exist only in geothermal regions.

Steam warmed me up from wet clothes as I walked through the park among geysers and beautiful silica formations. The park was fairly small, but it still had a bit of everything. It even had a thermal pool in a cave--apparently only two are known to exist in the world. I ended my trip with a complimentary latte in the cafe.

When I got back to the hostel, another girl was sitting in the bed next to mine. We exchanged brief histories and travel plans. She had come down to go skydiving in the morning but was afraid it would get canceled because of the rain (which had happened that day). I was looking through my list of possible activities, which she thought was strange because it was pouring rain again. I went out with my umbrella and went for a hike.

I walked along the Waikato River to Huka Falls. The falls are not all that impressive visually, but the river provides 65% of the entire North Island's power generation with 11 hydro-electric stations along the river.

On my walk back, I stopped at a hot spring just off of the trail. Thankfully I hadn't unpacked fully at the hostel and my swimsuit happened to be in my bag. So I sat in the spring chatting to a Kiwi until dark.