Lake Taupo - Wednesday, 1/16/2008

We had our first real B&B breakfast this morning with fruit, cereal, yogurt, bacon & eggs, and toast and jam. What a treat after a week of breakfast bars (A fig goes into a bar!). The result was that we took an hour and forty minute walk around the shore of Lake Taupo to wear it off.
Lake Taupo is the largest freshwater lake in Australasia. We have seen some square kilometer statistics but can’t relate those to our lakes at home. Suffice it to say that it is a big lake, 600 feet deep and dominated by the mountains on the far shore, including Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings. The water is crystal clear and the lakes usage looks very familiar with swimming beaches, jet-skis, sail boats and fishing boats.

The Waikato River flows north out of Taupo and we hustled up to the Aratiatia Dam to check out the water release at noon. They open the dam every two hours to create a rush that pounds down through a narrow gorge and feeds a power plant. The water comes out a spectacular color of blue as it flows north. Just above the dam is Huka falls which appears the same but is a natural narrowing of the river that forces a lot of water through a very small area.

After dam and falls it is back to town for a semi-light lunch (John, B.L.A.T; Mary, Brie & Avocado salad) and a couple hours of milling around in the shops. The town is about 8 square blocks of bustling businesses and restaurants that extend right down to the frontage road around the lake and the whole effect seems to work well. As far as we could tell there is no private property right on the water, at least on the parts of the lake we have seen.

After a couple hours rest we are off to a "Hangi" at Wairakei Terrace. This is a traditional Maori ceremony which includes a cooked-in-the-ground feast. The Terrace is a thermal area with bubbling hot springs that have been tapped in recent years to power a nearby geo-thermal power plant. The local Maori tribe then had to convince the Power company to return a portion of the captured water back to the tribal grounds to recreate the original setting.
It was a fun evening with some nose and forehead bumping and an interesting meal with chicken, pork, lamb, roasted pumpkin, kumara (sweet potatoes) and a great steamed pudding. There was a lot of singing, dancing and chest pounding with tongues sticking out. It was all pretty low budget compared to the big Hawaiian Luau productions but seemed more authentic and was very well done.

Back to our B&B, and a nightcap at the "Mole and Chicken" next door where we checked out the big cricket match. NZ is ahead 435 to 192 so it seems like a route but it may go on for another couple days so who knows. Off to bed.

Today’s local headline: Queen Kidnapping Plot Foiled International Herald