New Zealand- Taupo

on december 20th, john and i boarded a flight to auckland. we flew overnight and arrived bright and early- 5am NZ time. we hoped on our shuttle and met up with his parents at their hotel. and then we were off! we packed up the car (literally packed!) and sped down the road to taupo. 

the drive to

ok a surprisingly long time, mostly because the roads are quite twisty-turny. we arrived in taupo in the early afternoon, unpacked into our hostel-style accommodation and then went out for a walk. the landscape in NZ is lush and rich looking compared to oz- so green! we miss the canadian green so much in australia, so it was rather nice to see deep greens and blues. 

the city of taupo is quite cool, with a bustling downtown area nestled on the banks of lake taupo. lake taupo is a huge lake of 616 square kms and 164m deep. it is deep blue and looks incredibly refreshing. it's also the site of the largest crater caused by a volcanic eruption, with ash noted as far as greenland and rocks picked up hundreds of kms away.

the most recent eruption in taupo was 181 AD. not long ago by geological standards. this area of NZ is also an incredibly geothermic area. thereare hot springs, geysers and bubbling mud pools abound.

we went for a lovely walk to huka falls that afternoon. it was a short jaunt along a rather nice nature trail. right at the start of the walk, you can find "hot beach", which is where a hot spring flows into the river. the falls themselves were nice but definitely not the best i've ever seen.

the next day we headed to Orakei Korako- a thermal park. it has the largest silica terraces of their kind and has a vast number of boiling hot springs and geysers and bubbling mud pools. there's also a cave with  a small pool at the base. the water in the cave has just the right chemical composition to clean jewelry. and it did. quite well.

we were able to see a geyser blow. they're all quite random, so we were kin

d of excited by it. some of the geysers haven't erupted since the 1950's, but you can still see steam blowing and hear the boiling water. it's amazing to think that the earth beneath your feet is hot enough to keep water at a boiling point.  in some parts, you could actually feel the heat rising along the boardwalk. the mudpools were quite interesting as well. they made a bubbling sound much like what i would expect from a witch's cauldron. apparently the mud is highly regarded as being great for skin and removing impurities. didn't seem like a good idea at the time, but perhaps in the right day spa, with a massage to follow...

the next destination: Tongariro National Park and the small, tiny village of Whakapapa.

xo