Trip to Taupo

A few weekends ago (May 10-12th) we decided to head down to Lake Taupo which is about a 3 1/2 hour drive south of Auckland for a quick getaway.

Before we left first thing Saturday morning, we got to have a great dinner out on Friday night with some old friends and some new ones! We met some great new American girls (and their partners) at a Women's Club event earlier in the month and thought it would be nice to get together again and have everyone meet and chat. We went to Merchants of Venice which is a great little Italian place right near our apartment. All in all, it was a lovely evening and we're always glad to add new friends to our posse!


Anywho--Saturday morning we got up, stopped for some pies and hit the road. It was a beautiful, sunny, crisp day so the drive wasn't too bad at all. Plus, we got to see the weird corrugated metal sheepdog building...


We got down to Lake Taupo around noon and checked into the beautiful Hilton resort down there. Afterwards, we drove over into the town and had lunch at a place called Breakers. Unfortunately, it was sub-par at best, so our trip didn't get off to the best start. Oh well...

Then we drove around for a bit before heading over to the docks to hop on our tour boat for the afternoon. Luckily, we decided to get their early because our pre-paid tickets said it departed at 2pm and as we strolled up about 1:30pm, they were literally about to pull the boat out! We made it on board and opted for some indoor seats because it was rather windy out. The cruise took us out to the Maori rock carvings, which we learned were actually done in the 1980s and not when the Maoris first settled here...kind of a disappointing revelation, but still cool nonetheless.













After we got back, we decided to hit up the swimsuit sale at a local surf shop and grab some bathing suits so we could check out the hot pools beside our hotel. (Note: we realize it would've made much more sense to just bring bathing suits we already had, but we weren't expecting to swim!)


Once we were nice and prune-y we headed back to our hotel to shower and relax for a bit before dinner. We opted for the nice restaurant at our hotel which was absolutely delicious! They had a big roaring fire where we had pre-dinner drinks, then we had a lovely dinner of chicken, pancetta and parmesan risotto with balsamic roasted artichokes--yum!


That night, we just enjoyed some peace and quiet...Drew watched some weird movie on TV and I finished a good book so we were both happy!

Sunday morning, we decided to check out the fancy McDonald's (that had a full-sized airplane in the yard that doubled as the play place) and got really yummy food from the posh cafe section. I got a spinach and feta muffin and Drew had a bacon and cheese quiche...who know??

On our way out of town, we stopped at the beautiful Huka Falls which was actually a really awesome site. You can drive almost up to them and park--and as soon as you get out of the car you can hear the rush of the water. There are some MAJOR rapids there and then you can walk down to see the main falls where it says 200,000 litres gush through the pass every second...mind. blown.

Then it was time to head back home and gear up for the week ahead. New Zealand really is special in the sense that there are so many amazing places within driving distance that you can check out in just a weekend. Hope the next mini vacay is even better!

Cheers,