Taupo

I arrived at Lake Taupo yesterday after a nice drive through a blistering rain storm. The weather here is just as amazing as the scenery, very extreme. I found Napier a bit boring and more of a retirement community. Taupo has been really cool since I got here, very young and full of activities. The city itself is small (pop. 20,000) and right on the North End of the lake. Again, a very clean, new city and fishing and Skydiving are the main attractions here. People also use it as a gateway to Tongariro National Park that lies to the South of the Lake. Lake Taupo is NZ’s largest lake and is constantly stocked with plenty of large trout, originally brought over from California a hundred years ago.

(Lake Taupo, Mt. Rapehu in the distance)

I’m staying in a hostel, or backpacker’s as they call it. It’s really cool because it’s a great place to meet other people my age who are traveling. Great especially if you are traveling alone! Rooms are like dorms and about $20/night. People at these places are really open and talkative. However, it seems from the few Kiwis I’ve met, making fun of America is a common pastime. Americans have obviously gotten a bad rap here because of politics, movies, and TV. It’s kind of hard being American sometimes.

Today I went to a thermal place called the Craters of the Moon. A nice walk through a preserve filled with steam vents and mud pots. The air smelled of sulfur and you can imagine the sound of hissing and gurgling as you look at the photos.

(Steam vents, bubbling and hissing sounds, mud pots. All in a day's walk)

I think tomorrow I’m headed off to Rotorua, but I might stay here another night if things work out. And as promised, here are a few photos of Napier.

(Down by the Seaside...)

(Bottlebrush flower, native to Australia, but in Napier's botanical gardens)

(Art Deco madness)



(Seaside Promenade)