North Island Day 9: The Road To Taupo

As you travel down from Rotorua to Taupo you'll notice a sign for Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland which is home to, as well as a huge park full of geothermal activity, the Lady Knox Geyser which apparently erupts ay 10.15am every day so we duly rocked up like the good little tourists we were to pay our $27 to witness it. I'd been wondering how it was so reliable, how did this powerful force of nature know to erupt every 24 hours, what with Time being a concept created by man? Well at 10.15am my questions were answered when a man with a bag of soap rocked up and announced that he would be inducing the eruption by tipping the soap into the geyser. Oh and by the way? All the rocks around the geysers were placed there for effect.

Meh.

Fortunately your $27 also gains you entry into the park as well which, as well as the expected steaming pools of stuff named after various things the devil might utilise (Devil's Home, Devil's Bath, Devil's Ink Pots. Satan seems to use Rotorua as a veritable holiday home) it has some really pretty colours, like someone went mental with several pots of paint.
The highlight of Wai-O-Tapu (meaning Sacred Waters but I think the hyphens were added to draw the tourists because tourists like hyphens) is the Champagne Pools, created by an eruption about 700 years ago. They're edged by an unnatural looking orange whilst the pool itself is an eerie green. The park is full of colours made from various oxides produced from the geothermal activity.

Champagne Pool

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As pretty as it is both me and Andi were geothermaled out. What with Hell's Gate and the park in Rotorua plus this, it was enough geothermal activity to last us both a lifetime. We headed on to Taupo, home of the Great Lake which is pretty fucking massive by NZ standards. When I very first drove up this way from Wellington to Auckland I passed by the lake on SH1 and thought to myself how pretty the ocean looked today before realising how far inland I was and thanking the God Of Duh that there was no one else in my car at that time to hear that comment.

Lake Taupo; The Great Lake

The road to Taupo contains far too many distractions, the next one being the Huka Jet. We followed the sign in to check out how much it would cost and found ourselves handing over money in its various forms to get ourselves on the next ride. I have no idea how that happened. I should really learn to contain my impulse purchasing. Its cool though, I think it's a tad expensive for what it is but the guy who drove the boat was hilarious and, along with a few 360 degree spins we got up close with the stunning Huka Falls.

Huka Falls At 90% Flow

They're not stunning in the classic sense of a beautiful waterfall cascading down an ancient rock face into a tranquil plunge pool below, they're short but roaring falls that you daren't go anywhere near on account of the definate drowning that would occur. They open the dam at 10am, 12pm, 2pm and 4pm every day and these are the times to go and see them. We saw them at 90% flow and the most striking thing is the colour of the water.

And so onwards it was into the town itself where we got distracted by the parasailers. I'd already done it in Paihia but Andi shouted me another go because she didn't want to go on her own so we went and got ourselves dragged behind a boat at 800ft for a while.

Once we were safely back on ground we got some information about the famous Tongariro Crossing from a man in tourist information who had never done the crossing himself but had been talking about it for the last four years so clearly he was an authority on the subject. Gotta love scripting. Then we headed to Reid's Farm which is currently a free campsite next to a river pretty close to the town.

It awesome, one of a kind. Its regulary checked on by security so there wouldn't be a repeat of Dickey Flats and they ask you to fill out a questionare about the site, whether you would pay for the site, if so how much and the killer question; Do you think it should become a commercial campsite?

Fuck no! No way! There are so many commercial campsites around, they're ten a penny. Souless, charactorless places. Yeah, they have their nice facilities and the shiny tiled bathrooms with their flushing toilets but so what? Places like Reid's Farm are so hard to find. Relaxed, informal places where you don't have to rush to meet their 10am check out rule. Where you have your own kitchen in the form of your little gas stove, your own little rough pitch that isn't marked out with white lines. We need more places like this, safe places to camp without the formal, overpriced restrictions of a commercial camp. If that's what you want then fine, go and chose from the several in and around whatever town you're in but let us, who love to camp on a budget and don't want to be met at the front desk by a receptionist with a name badge and a list of rules, closing times for various amenities and a stern look to have our space. I'd pay to camp here, a minimal fee to help with the upkeep but please, Taupo, lets keep it at that. No one needs more commercial campsites. The facilites are above average for a free camp as it is. Don't change it. Keep that one things that makes this site shine out above all the others in the area.

Keep Reids Farm informal.

written by

Koala Bear on January 21, 2009 from Taupo, New Zealand

from the travel blog: Tiny Little NZ Road Trip

tagged RoadTrip, LovinIt and NorthIsland

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