Taupo

Well we headed out on the open road once again for another weekend away. We were hoping to do the Tongariro crossing but the weather in the mountains was a little sketchy so with some quick thinking we changed our plans and instead headed to Taupo for some fun.

Driver cam!

With our trusty automobile dr j we drove up the thermal highway playing tourist. First stop Huka Falls near taupo.

The next stop was the craters of the moon thermal park. It's steaming from the underground lava. The whole Taupo region is built over volcanos so there are all sorts of unique thermal springs and craters.


We stopped at the wai au tapu thermal wonderland to see more interesting and unusal things. Deb of course couldn't resist touching the water (but not to worry no warts yet!) The water is 74 degress celsisus and the colours come from the different minerals and gasses in the water and rocks.

Our next stop had been a long time coming. We really wanted a pciture of ourselves with the big kiwi for our future NZ scrapbooks so even though it was not on our way we drove up to the coast to do the kiwi orchard tour and get the pic.




We got lots of free tastetests of freshly pciked fruit and also got a huge box of kiwis (which we're still eating! And will be for weeks)

And the pic. My love of giant fruit continues...and i'm going to say it i think i liked the kiwi more than the big apple in Colbourne.
After a night out on the town (and one great meal deal... 3 pints of Tui and spaghetti for $20...you dont get deals like that very often) we spent sunday hanging around Taupo going on walks and relaxing at the Taupo hot springs. Naturally heated from the ground it was like sitting in a giant hot tub (and we all know how i feel about hot tubs...)