To Lake TaupoNov 1, 2005
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Photo Captions Later
Napier to Lake Taupo - 141 KM - 11/2/05
Today started with a 2 KM drive to the Classic Sheepskin factory which processes the hides of many of the 41 million NZ sheep that become "Spring Lamb" on someone's menu. Lots of hides arrive daily. They ship world wide. The store sells "bargains": the normal "Made in China" trinkets & "T's", some NZ trinkets made elsewhere, and some made of leather or wool on site. Some decent prices on seconds. Unfortunately a crowd of 42 doesn't have the discount leverage that Sams/Costco has.
It was another Up & Over the mountain day as we went from Napier on the central coast to a relatively high lake in the middle of the North Island. Clear skys made the transit much different today. Fortunately we had none of the steep drop off conditions that we couldn't see yesterday. Lots of mountain and high plains vistas. We passed Waipunga waterfall midway on the route. Good water flow due to a heavy rain about 4 days earlier.
Lake Taupo is a clear cold lake with the resort town of Taupo at the shore. We were amazed at the number of Cafe's, Pubs, and restaurants in the 10 city blocks of the central town. We expected it on the waterfront side, but they were solid throughout town. Must have lots of tourist activity. Saw a snow ski shop so probably it's a year round resort town. We ate lunch outside at the Fat Fish Cafe on the waterfront and then found an I-Net shop to catch up on photo uploads.
In the afternoon we did the side trip to Huka Falls. The water doesn't drop far, but it comes down a 30-40 foot channel at up to 300 cubic meters per second. We also stopped at the "Craters of the Moon" site where steam rises from dozens on spots. Only saw one bubbling mud pool, which erupted sporatically. The North Island of NZ sits on top of the junction of two continental plates and it gets hot below. Lake Taupo has a geothermal power plant.
The Caravan Park tonight has another tour group: 48 European folks, also in Maui's who will be in NZ for 48 days. That's a total of 4 large tour groups in NZ, all in Maui's. After supper we enjoyed Billy's Ice Cream treat. It got cool when the sun set, and the wind made it colder, but didn't stop Don (see photo). Charlie is reported to have had three helpings. Thanks Billy!
