Kiwi Exp. - Rotorua to Taupo

The morning was greeted with some fragile looks after the late night/early morning hot tub and beers. Reluctantly leaving Tamaki village behind us, there was an option to visit TePuia, Rotorua’s geothermal park, however we chose not to after seeing so much of this when in the USA. Instead we chose to hike through the area’s Redwoods park, so called because – you guessed it – the presence of Redwood trees. This was something we had not been able to do in California and wanted to see these giants of nature up close.

A morning mist still lingered between the trees as the forest enveloped behind us. Although there were other people out, a great silence still held court, causing you to whisper your sentences as your footsteps were cushioned by the soft ground beneath. A damp smell of wood sat on the air as we crept between the red sentinels. The Redwoods came in different sizes but all shot up to the sky from thick trunks that signalled strength and age. Along the way we crossed a small body of water, made a garish blue by the local geothermal activity, which created a colourful scene with the evergreen of the ferns in contrast to the slate sky above.

After this it was a short drive to our destination, Taupo, which sits next to the lake of the same name. The grey waters of the bay were chopping in a strong breeze as we arrived and were informed that the nearby Tongariro Alpine Crossing (an 8 hour hike through epic scenery including Mt Ngauruhoe - Mt Doom in Lord of the Rings) was closed due to severe weather. This will now have to be something that we hope to do when we returned north to Auckland next month. For the remainder of the day we relaxed in the warmth of the quiet town, recovering from last night and planning our adventures to come.Read more