Day 17: A Morning of Pongs

We took advantage of the powered site facilities to dump waste and take on fresh water in readiness for possibly three days of wild camping, then found a supermarket and petrol station so we were all ready for heading south.  It was another grey, drizzly day (where did that lovely sunshine go to?!) so we stopped off before Taupo at Wai-O-Tapu, the 'Thermal Wonderland' to view their collection of geo-thermal wonders including mud pools, sulphur falls, geysers, craters and mineral pools.

As you would expect, it was very smelly and, I must admit, my interest level waned after some time.  I can appreciate the geology and chemistry of it and I am suitably awed by Mother Nature's force, but there are only so many smelly holes you can look at.  I think if it had been a glorious day then the colours created by the different minerals would have been quite something to see, but they were muted today.

Geo-thermal stuff duly done, we took the road to Taupo, stopping briefly to admire the town and lake from a scenic lookout before parking up and searching out the I-Site and coming away with plenty of reading material to help with planning the Tongariro Crossing on Thursday. We found yet another excellent cafe for a cuppa and passionfruit muffins, and I managed to get 40% off a pair of walking poles in Kathmandu to help me on the crossing.

We are now parked up on the busiest freedom campsite we have been on to date, Reid's Farm, north of Taupo by 5k.  It's heaving with tent and van campers, the majority of which are much younger than us and dressed pretty much as I did in the seventies (the women that is!)  As I write this it is very dark out there but there are murmurings of voices and a young woman with a lovely voice is strumming her guitar and singing.

When we arrived here we took the bikes off the van and rode downriver from the campsite (the river drains Lake Taupo) to Huka Falls where the cliffs on either side of the river draw closer and the weight of the water is funnelled through a gap about as wide as the viewing bridge across it.  The effect is a crashing turmoil of turquoise blue icy water.  Huka means 'foam' in Maori and it suits its name well.

We pedalled across the bridge and picked up the bike trail which took us up the hillside and along the valley side till we reached the State Highway.  We weren't entirely sure where we were but were able to keep parallel to the river to find our way back to Reid's Farm.