Taupo - What a day!
We awoke to clear blue skies with not a breath of wind. Having missed a helicopter ride at Franz Josef Glacier, we decided this was the day and to do a 90-minute flight.
Beforehand we had a look at Hukka Falls which are 'horizontal falls', Lake Taupo has 23 feeder tributaries and one outlet.
The flight was from Taupo at the northern end of Lake Taupo, skirting the eastern side of he lake to the volcanic Tongariro National Park its south, then east to Kaimanawa National Park where we landed on an ‘Alpine peak’ and then returned following a river and forest areas to the east of Lake Taupo. An extraordinary flight in every way possible!
After the flight we visited ‘Craters of the Moon’, an area with steam vents and some small mud pools.
Next we visited the Lake Aratiatia Dam to witness one of the regular water release, which was quite exciting and impressive to see, and drawing quite a crowd.
We dropped into the ‘Lava Glass Garden’, not expecting anything much, but were very impressed by the glass artwork of an artist who grew up in Kalamunda, now a long term Taupo resident. We ended up buying a couple of pieces and touring the ‘garden’.
We then visited the Wairakei Terraces where there are also hot-pools that we returned to for a dip in the evening.
The last daylight activity was the Ernest Kemp Cruise near sunset to look a Maori carvings. Once again a surprising tour, with and beautiful sunset, placid weather conditions.
Easily the most memorable day of our 5 ½ weeks in New Zealand.