a quiet place away from the crowds of
the main pools. Some friends, some
*canned* cold beverages, maybe some
quiet tunes, and you have yourself a
perfect hideaway.
I joined up with Simon and Anne
again a quick run down the highway
later in Taupo: adventure sport capital
of the North island.
If you’re looking to white water raft,
bungee jump, mountain bike, hike,
skydive, jetboat, parasail or most oth-
er exciting pursuits, you can find it
here. Right after arriving in town, I
was whisked off to Tauhara mountain
for a sunset hike that I consider a must
do in the area. A moderately difficult,
under 2 hour each way bush walk takes
you through an active sheep farm be-
fore heading up a steep hill to an in-
credible viewpoint at 1100m showing
off 360 degree views of the area.
Arriving at the peak just before
the sun began to disappear and the
dim lights started appearing below,
it showed off the expansive, natural
beauty of the area: seemingly vast
amounts of mountains, water, and
farmland all squished together within
eyesight.
The next morning, I wasn’t allowed
a sleep in as my travel buddies are
go-getters and I was thrown out of bed
to find a much more effort intensive
set of two wheels and explore the trails
around the lake. Sticking to the easi-
er trails, we avoided major incident as
we pushed our legs up and down, hill
after hill for 20km or so before taking
a dip in the nipple hardening glacier
fed lake, then turning around to head
back to town along the, just as hilly,
pavement. If you happen to be in the
area, this is how I suggest you explore
it!
Thankfully, after these two exercise
intense activities back to back, Taupo
also offers up some incredible relax-
ation in the form of some more natu-
ral hot springs on the edge of the Huk-
ka river. They are located right within
city limits and are a veritable rats nest
of people during the day, but arriv-
ing just after dark, we had the place
TRAVERSE 25
to ourselves. Multiple pools with dif-
ferent temperatures and a frigid river
to cool off in a few steps away, laying
back and watching the steam rise up
to the stars was a perfect conclusion to
an awesome day.
After saying goodbye to Anne and
doing a quick morning bungee jump
(where I learned I’ve ballooned over
10kg’s since leaving home in January
… oops!), Simon and I headed across
to Napier … which was the worst ride I
had in New Zealand! Hail, snow, rain,
slippery roads, steep corners, bad
drivers: I legitimately white knuckled
it for the entire three or four hours.
While I wish I could start a wonder-
ful diatribe about how this delightful
coastal art-deco town was worth that
section of paved misery, the town, un-
fortunately, taught me a lesson I didn’t
particularly want to learn.
In general, travel is great for teach-
ing positive lessons like broadening
perspectives, encouraging interaction
and stimulating adaptability ... but
this one was a little harder to come to