Hot pools...the only way to start the day.

Day 19. Geothermal wonderland and the day of awesome. 

Lake Okaro to Taupo
Daily total: 73.31km Running total: 1128.31km

Heading from one free camping ground to the site of another camping ground called Reid Farm just on the outskirts of Taupo. The morning is grey and everything is packed and ready to go. Just one pit stop before the journey starts a proper. Another dip in the hot and cold geothermal pool, just off State Highway 4. Every leg of the journey needs a hot pool hidden away somewhere. The ride from Lake Okaro to Taupo is pretty flat and uneventful. 

Uneventful but flat. Real flat. Not like that fake flat.

Uneventful from the other direction. It really was a slow photo day.

Get to the outskirts of Taupo and nearly within minutes of turning up, I nearly sign myself up for a helicopter ride. $99 for a short jaunt. There was a catch to the price, I needed two of me for the flight or just another random solitary traveler. I could have sat outside the helipad asking for strangers (just imagine a hobo asking for strangers instead of change. Got the image in your head? Now replace the hobo with me! Enjoy that thought!). So the random whim quickly evaporated as fast as it appeared.

Geothermal plantations outside of Taupo. 

My campsite neighbour went by the name of John. A colourful character who had led a varied life. Talks to himself/everyone/anyone all at the same time. Told me a could get a job shooting rabbits. Good money in shooting rabbits. The lack of gun on my behalf could pose a hindrance in entering that line of work. Looked like he had been in the outdoors for a long time. Had a tent and things but no sign of any form of transport. Was he a walker? Nomadic? Who knows...I could never quite get what he was up to in life, but he lay within the fringes of society. Would that be me one day? Is that why after I had spent a good half hour scouting out the campsite for a suitable pitch for a few days, I chose to pitch up next to John? The future will tell. 

I ventured down to the Huka River. It is insanely blue. It looks like a 5 year old was asked to colour in the river. I had/have (now confused with tenses again) never seen a river sport such a vibrant colour. 

The day of awesome.

As I had free camping, I decided to live it up and stay put for a few days and to make up for the desperate selection of photos from the day before (see above).

Fresh with the knowledge of hot pools are a good way top start the day, it made sense to apply that logic to a dip in the river to start the day. It was freezing. Freezingly refreshing. But still freezing. 

The famous Huka Falls were close by to the campsite, so they were first on the agenda of things to see.  Major tourist attraction but standing on the bridge watching the river through the riven, you forget about the throngs of fellow tourists surrounding you. 

The Huka Falls. See...blue. Very blue. 

The next stop was up the river to watch the hydroelectric dam discharge it's load. This happens 3/4 times a day depending on the time of year. The whole process lasts about 30 minutes from the gates being opened to the valley returning to it's original state. 

It is hard to define a sense of scale from the photos. The dam was about 500 meters away.

The boulders in the photos were bigger than big. Talking about big car size here. 

Rapidly disappearing...

...and gone. 

The next stop was the Creators of the Moon park. A place full of geothermal activity and completely blew away my concept of what the lunar landscape looked like. Turns out the moon is way more complex than just rocks and moon rocks and dust. There are times I think I should pay more attention to the information signs than building my own narrative for the place. 

Did pay attention to this sign. The steam did burn. 

Before you had arty arches, now arty walkways. 

A view of the Mountain I cannot pronounce or spell. 

Mountain biking through the Redwood forest was so much fun. I cannot explain how happy I was bombing through the woods. Forests are boss and much needed protection from the sun. 

Shady goodness. 

From the Huka Falls, on the opposite side from the car park is a great mountain bike trail that leads into Taupo. Loads of perilous drops to the sides, sharp corners (some with added bonus perilous drops) and geologically confusing landscape. One minute climbing through a gorge only to suddenly appear in completely flat land. It changes all so quickly and dramatically. 

So happy with the mountain bike now.

It had the word "bluff" in the title. 

Within seconds of this photo, I was in the middle of a flat plane. 

Lake Taupo with Mt. Doom and Mt. Ruapehu in the background

The depth of Lake Taupo

Sunset at the Lake from the day before. Thought I'd confuse you with an out of sequence photo.

There has to be some nautical themed pun here.

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My smartphone's attempt at stitching photos to create a panoramic.

The day ended with an impromptu boat trip around the lake. Just went on a whim and the camera battery decided to take a break for the day as well, so had to make do with my smartphone. 

As rest days go, this just seemed a fitting way to end the rest day that  turned out to be pretty active. 

My time in Taupo was great. Met many interesting people and saw so many amazing things, it is a shame to be leaving. Although staying will keep me entertained for a long time, but taking root will not help achieve the goal of reaching Bluff! Cheerio Taupo. Hope our paths meet again.