10th April - Taupo and Turangi
Aurora_b
Mike and Liz Downing
Fri 22 Apr 2011 06:56
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The road south from Rotorua to Taupo is known as the
Thermal Explorer Highway and passes through areas of geothermal activity. You
get used to seeing fenced off areas with steam coming out of the ground or just
steam coming up from behind bushes. Taupo is about another hour further on from
Rotorua and quite a big town on the banks of Lake Taupo - New Zealand's
largest lake at 239 sq miles, so very big. New Zealand's longest river, the
Waikato, starts from the lake and just before you reach Taupo it goes
through a naturally restricted cutting and over the Huka Falls. They're not
high, but the cutting makes it extremely powerful creating a mass of fast
turbulent bluey-white water that plunges over the falls. Throughout its length,
the Waikato river feeds 8 hydro-electric power stations - how lucky they are to
have fast running water to create power. There's no nuclear power in NZ! Taupo is another adventure destination
with all of the extreme adventures known to NZ taking place here or somewhere
close by. It's also world famous for something else a little less energetic -
trout fishing. Another 45 minute
drive around the eastern shores of
the lake takes you to Turangi - the northern gateway to the
Tongariro National Park and our planned base for the next 2 nights, but
as it turned out, the next 3 nights.
 The Waikato enters the cutting, speeds up and ........  ....... plunges over the Huka Falls.  Once over the falls the river slows to a
more normal rate.
 there are no eels to be found in Lake Taupo
- just in case you couldn't read the last line.
  In addition to the river, this shows where
Taupo Lake and the town of Taupo are in relation to
Rotorua.
The inlet in the big bay above and to the
left of Rotorua is where Tauranga is located and where we left the
boat.
Tauranga to Taupo is about a 2 hour drive.
The Tongariro National Park is just to the south of Lake
Taupo.
 Looking across Lake Taupo, with Mt Doom in the
distance
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