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So we've been settling into our new home and jobs for a few weeks and chose our first weekend away at Taupo; only a short 2 hour drive south.
The weekend started at the 'Crater's of the Moon' 45 minute walk through a geothermal area; complete with steam vents, craters and mud pools. The ground was warm to touch and we were surrounded by a mild sulphur aroma! It popped up following the arrival of the local geothermal PowerStation in the 1950's, which affected the hot water systems below the earths surface.
We also visited the Volcanic Centre and had a go on an earthquake simulator! We then came outside to find that our Space Wagon had not been engineered by NASA after all!!
A quick visit to Huka Falls was rather an anti-climax in comparison to our local waterfall. So we headed onto Taupo and explored around the lake, ate loads and sampled local wine!
Sunday we got up at the crack of dawn to spectacular NZ winter weather, which is comparable to the Irish and English summers! This resulted in great views of the infamous Mount Doom and the more spectacular Mt. Ruapehu. We couldn't stay long though as we had a date with the 10am opening of the Aratiatia Dam to form the Aratiatia Rapids. We took the 8 min climb to the viewpoint in our stride...
We thought we'd seen it all at Craters of the Moon……. but it was nothing in comparison to Orakei Korako Thermal Park. The photos do not in any way do it justice, it was absolutely incredible! We managed to see 3 geysers during the walk, but they only reached a meter or so. On return for coffee we spotted a geyser on the hilltop that must have reached 10-15m, but lasted less than a minute.
That's our weekends highlights, but we hope to update next weekend on our new home and general settling into the area....in mean time check out our ajoining Taupo photo album!
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