To Lake Taupo
We Left Napier about mid morning, it had been raining so we delayed our departure till the rain eased up a little. Our trip took us past Hawkes Bay Airport, that area of land that appeared from the bottom of the bay after the 1931 earthquake. From here we were to go inland, over the coastal range to Lake Taupo.
Lake Taupo was created when a giant volcano exploded about 26.500 years ago. Since then it has been estimated that it has erupted a further 28 times, one of the eruptions turned the sky red as far away as China.
Lake Taupo was still two hours away, with a lot of driving, the landscape here was lush and green, no sigh here of the drought that we were having in Australia. It was obvious that this rain we were experiencing was not uncommon.
I did not have an opportunity to stop and take any photographs, until I saw a signpost to a small waterfall, Waipunga Falls, the name was enough to make me curious enough to want to see them, and while they are not large falls it was a worthwhile stop.
We resumed our trip and it was not long before we spotted a small café at the side of the road, and as we were thirsty, and needed to also empty our bladders, we decided to have some late coffee. However the reception we received when we asked if we could use the public toilets, left a little to be desired! It appeared that they would not let us use them unless we spent a large amount of money on food, excluding drinks EACH. At this point we cancelled our order of coffee (not wanting to place more pressure on our bladders) and proceeded to travel the last 20 minutes to the town of Taupo!
In Taupo we were able to satisfy all our needs, and have lunch at a much friendly café. After lunch and a quick drive around town, we found a suitable hotel for two nights, then set off to find our way to the top of an active volcano, Mount Ruapehu and the other active volcanoes that make up Tongariro National Park, Mount Ngauruhoe and Mount Tongariro.
At this time we did not have a good map of the area and we were relying on visual contact with the volcanoes to find our way. The country side here was no longer green, as this was snow country, and in only a few weeks time it would change from the brown we saw to a complete blanket of white powder snow, already the top of Mount Ruapehu was white.
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