Friday, February 29, 2008

day trip









Georgia was at school camp this week so we decided to take full advantage of no school run on our day off and take a trip to Taupo with our friends Norman and Linda.



It was a beautiful bright sunny day so heading to the hills seemed the best option.



Its about a 2 hour drive to Taupo from Tauranga along quiet roads through some stunning scenery.



We stopped on the out skirts of Taupo and viewed the mighty Waikato River Huka Falls. These very impressive raging falls really are the bright turquoise colour you see in the photo. If you painted a picture that colour it would not look real!



Further on we stopped at the bunji jumping centre where thrill seekers can, for a price, jump off a platform high over the river with their ankles tied together suspended on a piece of elastic. Not something I would like to try but each to his own I guess. We saw 3 people jump off - they must be mad!



Taupo itself is dominated by the huge Lake Taupo. It is so vast it could be an ocean, and again it was that beautiful turquoise colour. We inspected the boats on the marina and contemplated the fact that if you had a boat on a lake you couldn't really sail off into the wide blue yonder as you would only be able to go round in circles.



We had a wander around town and had a very decent meal and half of beer in a brilliant Irish bar. We could have stayed there all day! We moved on to the museum but it was closing.



A walk through the park brought us back down to the river where lots of people were relaxing in some natural hot water springs. We dipped our feet in and were amazed at just how hot the water was.



After a play in the park (well, there was no one else there) we headed off home.



We had a brilliant day, saw some beautiful scenery and really appreciated what a lovely country New Zealand is.

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