Taupo

Day 6: World's coolest McDonalds, Golfing, Sunset Sail on lake TauPo (Toe-Pour)

Raising ourselves in the early morning, the group departed for TauPo (pronounced Toe-Pour) where the day began with rain and clouds, but eventually gave way to a beautiful clear sky. Perfect weather for us to explore the city. In our excitement someone blurted out that the McDonalds in the area is famous for its plane seating, which immediately got everyone excited to see exactly what was meant by “Plane-seating”. Spoiler alert, its exactly what you think it is. An old plane from the 1920s was seated right next to the McDonalds and is now used as seating for any one, usually children, to have a unique place to eat. Well, naturally, all 19 of us piled into the McDonalds and effectively took over all the seating in the plane. Only part of me felt bad whenever a bright eyed child would walk up into the plane, only for those same lights to dim after seeing nineteen 20+ yr old adults hogging all the seats. I regret nothing!

This experience, of course, should have probably been a one time experience. However, you would be wrong. In the two days we spent in Tau-Po, that same McDonalds was visited a grand total of 5 times by the group. Trust me, I am just as confused.

One of the flaws of this trip involved understanding that I would not be able to experience the growing golf scene in the country with several of the top 100 golf courses in the world. While I was understandably disappointed, my desire was satiated by a fun game of “quick-everyone-pitch-in. Marc-is-gonna-win-us-$10000.” An island green was constructed 113yrds into the lake and several bays were set up where all you had to do was hit the red dot in the middle of the target. Of the 50 shots I had, 27 must of hit the target, but due to obviously windy conditions and magnetic pull of those lake magnets, I was unable to win the group back its money.

The day ended with a beautiful sunset cruise around lake TauPo where our captain sailed us to maori carvings in the rock wall. The entire trip was DJ’d by Nic of course, who was quickly becoming a legend amongst the group with his ability to pick the perfect song at every opportunity. Many photos were taken, many drinks were drunk, many laughs were had, and many of us froze in the cold lake after peer pressuring everyone to go for a nice swim. Golden hour on the way back to shore is where I began to consider a new career as “Magic Marc.” Let me explain. As I was coming from a freezing cold environment of the midwest winter, the cool late afternoon weather was not yet bothering me, and so in not wanting to get my shirt wet after swimming in the lake, the only clothing I decided to keep on was my swimmers, sunglasses and adventure hat. Meanwhile, the rest of the group appeared to be freezing, layering up in as many jumpers and puffers as they could find. This is where I established my dominance amongst the group, showing I could withstand the immensely grueling 20℃ climate 😉Read more