The first stop was at the Aratiatia Rapids just as they were about to release the water from the dam, I thought it might be interesting. I went to the upper lookout which was a bad choice, too far away from the action. The lower lookout was a bit better, but the water wasn't really *that* rapid, just slowly rising water. It went for about 10 or 15 minutes then everyone got in their cars and took off.
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| The rapids. |
A bit further upstream was the Huka Falls, an actual waterfall that was a bit more lively. Lots more people were hanging around here so they must have done better research. It would be fun if you could ride down the falls in some craft, maybe a barrel, but it's probably a bit too dangerous for that.
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| The falls. |
So back in the car to get to Great Lake Taupo. It is a really big lake so the name is appropriate, but the town seemed to be quite dead. Had some lunch then went to explore what was going on around the lake. There was a path with various artwork and then a hole-in-one golf place where the green is floating on the lake. A few people managed to hit the structure, but it was so far out that I doubt you'd even know if you got it in the hole, unless they are monitoring it somehow. Further up the road was the Twin Peaks hotel! but sadly not associated with the TV show at all.
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| The lake. |
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| FIRE WALK WITH ME. |
In many of the side streets in the city centre there was some good art work painted on the walls. Also came across the world's coolest McDonald's - it had an aeroplane in the playground so I guess that's a bit cool. That was it for the city a bit earlier than expected, so drove a little further over to Mt Tauhara.
I think the trail can take up to 2 hours to get to the top, so I didn't plan on going the whole way. As far as we did go it turned out to be a very strange path, you had to climb over farm fences and walk through paddocks just to get to the half-way point. It was a very steep path and a lot of the ground had been worn down to dirt, so it wasn't easy to find a good way up.
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| Find your own way up. |
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| Cows taking over. |
After driving back to Rotorua there was still a bit of time left, so I called up one of the escape rooms and made a booking to give this thing a try. The theme for our room was to put together the clues to find some jewelery before the time limit was reached. It was my first time doing one of these, Jason had done it once before, but I think I was finding more clues in the beginning - basically just walk around and start inspecting everything, no real strategy. We made a couple of mistakes that wasted a bit of time, but there was a couple of vague parts (vague people would have been impressed) which we didn't get past so ran out of time. I think you'd need two young whippersnappers with a knack for solving mysteries to have solved this one. It was fun though and I'd try another one some day.
More walking back to the hotel, then fuel up the car, drop it off, then walk back to the hotel a second time. Had used up about 25 litres of fuel so that came to about $50.
Steps: 22000
- Rotorua
- 7 out of 10
- Good
- Lots of outdoor spots for biking or running
- Not much traffic
- The Redwoods
- Bad
- Not much activity at night
- Too much sulphur in some places
- Missed Out
- Okere Falls
- Tongariro Alpine Crossing
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