Sailing on Taupo

This morning two Kiwi buses left Rotorua for Taupo.  The one we were on only had 20 people on but the other was full and had 50.

The first stop off, after about half an hour was Te Puia, which was a large geyser that offered a guided tour for 33$. We decided not to as it was raining and the tour was two and a half hours and we'd seen some small ones already. Instead, whilst some people did the geyser, we went for an hour long walk in a redwood forest, called the Waitawa walk. It was a fairly straightforward pleasant walk but we were sheltered from the rain so it was all fine.

We picked people up from Te Puia at 12 and set off towards Taupo. We stopped at a cafe at one and then went on to a waterfall caller Huka Falls, which wasn't really a waterfall, but more like rapids but they were pretty powerful. These falls are where Lake Taupo joins the river. It was only a quick stop and then we were back on the bus for about 10 minutes to Taupo. As we got back on the bus is started raining, again.

Taupo is situated on a massive lake, called Lake Taupo, which is apparently bigger than the size of Singapore. It's in a crater of a volcano. When we reached the town, the four of us who shared a room last night checked into a four bedded room at a hostel called Urban Retreat. The room was much smaller than the one last night and the ladders for the bunk beds were inaccessible, causing me to have to climb on the windowsill and Lauren's bed to get onto the top bunk. I suggested to Lauren that she should sleep at the other end so I didn't step on her head during the night if I had to get up. We were staying at this hostel, whilst most of the Kiwi experience people were staying at another one, that didn't have room for us all. We had heard this one was nicer and the driver said it was quieter so we volunteered to stay here for the same price.

We just chilled in the room chatting until around 7pm, at which point Lauren and I went off to go on a trip called Sail Barbary.  It was raining as we set off so we were a bit apprehensive about going out on a boat. We had driven past the boat earlier in the day and it didn't look particularly covered. But it turned out to be a really chilled evening and the rain held off. We didn't really see the sunset and we weren't able to go and see the Maori carvings but we got free pizza and just sat on the boat, cruising round the lake, drinking coke, playing 'who am I?'. It was really relaxing. After the cruise, which finished at 10 we went back to the hostel.