Taupo
We arrived in Taupo around 9:30am and grabbed brunch at Storehouse, an adorable restaurant housed in an old plumbing store. Alex and I shared the chicken and waffles and huevos rancheros - both were delicious!
We then headed over to where New Zealand's longest river, the Waikato, drops down into Huka Falls. The waterfall is only 36 feet tall, but spews over 58,000 gallons of water per second. The result is what the Maori call Hukanui (Great Body of Spray). The icy-blue color is stunning and we stood and watched the falls for awhile admiring its strength and power. Alex and I then did an hour long hike along the Waikato River and I could not believe how clear the water was. You could see straight to the bottom.
We spent the remainder of the afternoon touring around Taupo's city center. We walked along Lake Taupo and popped into a couple of the boutique shops. Lake Taupo is New Zealand's largest lake and sits in the caldera of a volcano that began erupting about 300,000 years ago. We had a beautiful, sunny day and enjoyed being outside and near the water.
Our big adventure in Taupo came in the form of a 5 1/2 hour hike. The Tongariro Alpine Crossing is often described as New Zealand's greatest day walk and extends 12 miles over volcanic peaks, craters, streams and old lava flows. The track starts at the Mangatepopo car park and ends at the Ketetahi car park, so it is necessary to utilize a shuttle service. The shuttle picked us up in Taupo at 5:50am and we arrived at the start of the hike at 7:30am. I have to say I was pretty nervous about this hike as there were mixed reviews in terms of difficulty. Most said you need a reasonable level of fitness and I would definitely agree with this statement! There were a few times it got pretty hard due to the steepness of the trail as well as the wind and cold. At times, the wind was so strong it almost knocked me down! The trail was also PACKED! I bet there were over 500 people hiking it at the same time we were. We read online 109,000 people hike the Tongariro Alpine Crossing every year. It was a bit slow moving at first since all the shuttles drop you off at the same place, but once we got moving it seemed people sort of spread out at their own pace. It really was an amazing day and the views were spectacular. We had a bit of fog in the morning, but thankfully, it cleared up later in the day. Both Alex and I were exhausted and stiff at the end, but I certainly felt a sense of accomplishment when we finished.
We left Taupo Sunday morning and made our way to Waitomo to do a glowworm cave tour. We had previously done a glowworm tour while in Tasmania, but this one had so many more glowworms. After a short cave tour, we jumped onto a boat and made our way down a portion of the Waitomo River which flows through the cave. Looking up from this vantage point, there were thousands of glowworms on the cave ceiling. They looked like stars in the sky and the experience was so cool. The glowworms are very sensitive to light so no pictures were allowed, but it was pretty amazing.
After our glowworm tour, we drove to Auckland where we enjoyed lunch at Hello Friends + Allies and then dropped off our rental car. We are flying to Christchurch tomorrow where we will start our tour of the South Island. We have four weeks in the South Island and I’m eager to get exploring. So far, New Zealand has been amazing, and I am constantly in awe of this beautiful country.