I spent a few nights in the town of Taupo, on the north island, as a jumping off spot for a hike I was planning to do. Apparently I just missed the New Zealand Ironman Championship which was hosted in Taupo a few weeks ago! (Would have loved to catch -ahem, spectate- that!) Great little town, beautiful lake, good food, loads of adventure tourism at the expected high prices. My first day was spent doing the Tongariro crossing, which deserves a blog post of its own (coming soon). On day two I did some mountain biking, checked out a place called Huka Falls, and dipped into a hot spring.
I'll admit I'm a little waterfall-spoiled after Australia, but Huka falls was pretty impressive. This waterfall located on the Waikato river generates 15% of New Zealand's power and fills the equivalent of one to two Olympic sized swimming pool per second! Not surprising after hearing/feeling the roar of it in person.
I biked there from Taupo via the Waikato river trail system, which was a fantastic little ride through pine tree and palm forests, sandy banks, narrow rocky areas, clifftops overlooking the rainforest and Waikoto river, and dusty hills. On the way back, I stopped for a picnic lunch at the free Spa Park hot pools (right under the bridge nearest to the parking area) which were so hot after the bike ride that I opted to dip into the river instead!
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| Lake Taupo |
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| Lake Taupo |
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| Waikoto river |
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| mountain biking! |
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| Waikoto river mountain bike track... |
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| Waikoto river |
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| Huka falls |
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| love birds |
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| back on the bike |
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| hot springs location - Spa Park |
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| Spa Park hot springs! |
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