Taupo - November 15th & 16th

Taupo is situated on the banks of Lake Taupo, the largest in New Zealand as well as the Waikato River, the largest river in New Zealand. With all this water, Taupo is the ideal place for trout fishing, as evidenced by the giant fish statue in the city park. Do I trout fish? No. Do I fish at all? Definitely not. But Taupo was a good draw because of all the other water activities, and it was a stepping stone to the Tongariro Crossing. The Crossing is considered the best one-day hike in all of New Zealand and even passes by Mt. Doom from Lord of the Rings fame.

Unfortunately, Mt. Doom and his friends Mr. Gale Force Wind and Ms. Pissing Rain did not cooperate with my goal to complete the Crossing. I made about 5 phone calls to the guides until I found out that the trail would not be open for at least 4 or 5 days due to incliment weather. Later on I would find out that small school children were huddled behing boulders for shelter before the trail was finallt closed, so I guess it was for the better. Still, this was a huge part of my plan and I was pretty bummed that through no fault of my own it wasn't going to happen.

I decided instead to do two other hikes. One took me to the Huka falls, just outside of Taupo. It is here that the Waikato narrows to about three times it's original size and causes a pretty amazing rush of water. I also hiked out to the Aratiatia rapids, which only flow four times a day since the New Zealand government has damned them (...to hell?) for conversion to hydro. When they finally do open it's quite a sight

Taupo was the first town that I really enjoyed. It had a nice seaside feel to it, with plenty of decent pubs and restaurants. Quiet enough to relax but busy enough to have a good time.

Also, Wednesdays is three pints and a dinner for twenty bucks...do it!















Lake Taupo...beautiful lake, ominous clouds















I caught you a delicious trout