New Zealand, Part 5 : Soggy Volcano aka Lake Taupo

Our next stop was Lake Taupo. The lake was formed when water filled the large caldera after an eruption. The volcano is still active. I always pictured volcanos looking something like this:

Turns out, they can look like this:

We had two days in Lake Taupo, and were able to stay at a pretty fancy hotel thanks to Michael's reward points. Turns out repeatedly staying at the Hampton Inn in Reno, can really rack up the points.

 We were in Taupo for Michael's birthday, which meant he was in charge--which meant we played tennis--which meant Michael lost on his birthday. Poor guy. The grass was really fun to play on. It slows down the ball a bit and is easier to run on. We also decided that since the room was free, we should splurge on something else. We went to a spa, with natural hot pools. Suddenly, we were getting mud wraps. I'm so happy that happened, since it will likely never happen again, and because of the hilarious conversation that happened afterword. It went something like this:

Michael: My neck feels great.
Sarah: Me too, just in time for camping.

And then, in unsion:

I was sooooo...COLD/HOT.

Yeah, the thermal mud wrap was torture for Michael, all he could think about was when are they going to scrape it off? And as soon as they took the mud off me, all I could think about was when are they going to put that warm mud back on? I'm freezing. 

It was funny and quite honeymoon-y.

We ran along the lake in the early morning. It was beautiful.

We passed about five older couples, and they all started smiling and nodding and, in one case clapping, when we would meet or run past them. Kiwis: highly supportive bunch. I think I could run longer/farther if elderly New Zealanders were lining my route, smiling and nodding.

The only part of the trip that I disliked was something called a "thermal park." This thermal park was the equivalent of a geologic miniature golf course. We walked along the path, and looked and mist rising out of various holes. Magical--and also something that you can find for free all over New Zealand.

This is the only picture we took there. Can you sense the sarcasm?

A few miles outside of the city, was Huka Falls. That water is such a pretty color, when it moves quickly like this.

 The water runs from the lake, through this rock channel, and shoots out below. There is a bridge running across the channel, which is where I took the video.

We hung out at the lake, but the swimming was kept to toes only. Michael probably would have loved to jump in the water mid-mud wrap, but it was too cold to be enjoyable otherwise.

Fancy birthday date. We accidentally packed clothes that matched a little too much... We were one step away from these Grand Canyon visitors and bird lovers:

 

(For a good time, google "matching couple travel outfit")

The next morning we set off on a driving adventure, that took us farther south. We met Mount Doom on the way and ended up staying in an odd Shakespearean-themed village (but that's a story for the next post). On our way out of town, we stopped to see the other side of the lake. Such a beautiful place. 

  

Balancer, extraordinaire. 

We liked it, despite what this picture suggests.