Lake Taupo and Turangi

December 12, 2011

Lake Taupo and Turangi

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Napier has a nice bayside park (Westshore Park) that I walked a part of this morning in search of a place to get some change for the showers, as the holiday Park office didn’t open until 8 am. No luck until I got back to the holiday park, where some campers had arisen, and one was kind enough to give me two 50cent coins for my dollar coin. Breakfast, showers, and put everything away and off we go to Taupo. The drive to Taupo was nice, however, not spectacular by NZ standards, but it went quick. Lake Taupo is the largest lake in NZ, and the center for trout fishing here. We pulled out in several locations for dramatic pictures of the lake with volcanic peaks of Tongariro National Park in the background. At the first one, Donna had her second fall (the first was on our first hike in the Pinnacles) of the trip , slipping off of a rock she was standing on taking a picture - luckily I was close by and caught her on the way down, avoiding a total disaster (a bit more bruised, but no major damage), but alas, my first pair of sunglasses bit the dust – much better than a further injured Donna!) Stopped at the isite in Turangi, had lunch, and took a 2 hour hike along the Tongarira river (their suggestion for an afternoon hike), which was lovely. Then down to Tongariro National Park headquarters toured the HQ (lots of great interpretative displays – it was particularly interesting to see the comparison of famous volcanic eruptions – Mt. St. Helens was quite a bit bigger than the recent NZ volcano eruptions, but nothing compared with Krakatoa and ??, both in Indonesia in the 1800’s.) On to our campsite in a cheap (ended up being free – no envelopes to put your money in) DOC campsite by a stream just about ten km away from the park HQ. No one here when we got here, but about a dozen or so folks by dark – but our site is a nice private site. Chicken Tandoori with veggies for dinner (did I mention we are eating fabulously thanks to Chef Donna!) Donna noted in her journal that she loves the campervan and the convenience but missed the chance to meet more people (as would be the case in a bed and breakfast). Donna would get her wish granted as meeting fellow travelers and Kiwis would pick up as the trip went along. Another rainy cool evening but sunshine in the morning – a frequent pattern on this trip.