Taupo is another city/regional center on the North Island. Situated at the base of a large lake, Taupo is considered as the adventure center of New Zealand. From rope courses, kayaking, rafting, hiking, bungy jumping, to sky diving, the list goes on and on. Population wise, it is probably the same size as Rotorua. It is also only an hour’s drive southeast of Rotorua along the Geothermal Highway; a highway that lives up to its name. There are many opportunities to visit hot springs and geothermal parks along the highway.
I arrived in town in the late afternoon and after dropping off stuff on my bed in the hostel, I got some advice on where to go and what to see.
I left around 4 pm to see Huka Falls. This waterfall is impressive not because of it’s height or width, but because of the sheer amount of water the furious falls carries. A bright teal blue bubbling from mountain springs, the water flows vehemently through a series of rapids until a drop gorces it off a 10-meter cliff. But as I said, the icy blue water is so voluminous that it hardly looks like a drop at all. That waterfall is just straight-up powerful. The falls weren’t far from town at all- only 5 minutes. I just watched the falls from a viewing platform, but being the adventure center that Taupo is, there is a company that drove you to the base of the falls and would then ride the waves. It would be the closest that one could get to ride the falls in barrels as they did in The Hobbit. These were the same falls where they shot that scene, by the way. I so would’ve done that, but a few things stopped me: 1. It was between $150-250 to do that activity for a merely 25-minute ride. 2. They did not allow cameras on the boat and I wanted to get footage of all that I was seeing- for Huka Falls was truly a sublime spot.
After spending time at Huka, I drove 10 minutes into town to a hot springs public park. The park was right along the river that flows from Lake Taupo and is caused by the region’s geothermal activities. In order to get to them, you have to walk 5 minutes from the parking lot towards the river, where you will find these natural springs. Since it is a free public park, there was a decent amount of people there, but I found an upper pool that was only occupied by one person. It was a little awkward sharing a pool with a 35-year-old man as it was a little plain to see that both of us were holding out for the other person to leave. So like cats, we both enjoyed the hot 60-degree Celsius water while pretending the other didn’t exist. He eventually abated and left after some time, leaving me victorious in my hot bath. On a 13 degree celsius day, it actually felt rather nice. After about 45 minutes, I left feeling rejuvenated. From there, I went back to my hostel to change, and then I left again for dinner at a famous New Zealand pizza place called Hell’s Kitchen. It was alright- nothing special.
The next day I was planning on doing the world-famous Tongariro Alpine Crossing. This crossing is a full 8-hour trek through the majestic mountains of Mordor in Tongariro National Park- an hour south of Taupo on the other side of the lake. This park was used as the location for Mordor in the Lord of the Rings and is one of the most recommended things to do in New Zealand. I was signed up with an expedition to go, but when I called to confirm the day before, they told me that the trip was canceled. I called up a rafting company instead. That day, I woke up around 9, grabbed a quick bite to eat at the officially voted on “World’s Coolest McDonalds” due to a massive model plane residing on its roof, and drove 45 minutes to the small town of Turangi. The drive was along the lake and mountainside. It was also raining, so it made the winding drive even more fun. Although, after doing it so much, driving around on the winding roads with plenty of curves can get annoying. I got to the place in Turangi and we got prepared to go. They gave us an outfit consisting of 4 layers of fleece and jackets to keep out the cold and the rain. We then got on the bus that took us 20 minutes to the National Park and the Tongariro River.
When we got to the river, we were divided into two groups of six. One group was a group of four English friends who were there because of the Lions series. They were guided by a guide and a guide in progress. My group consisted of a pair of Irishmen also in New Zealand for the Lions series, a visiting family of three, my guide who was young, cool, and energetic- always hollering like Goofy when going over rapids- and myself. The rafting was awesome, plain, and simple. There we were in a lush temperate forest paddling down fourteen kilometers of the river through more than fifty rapids in two and a half hours. Along the way we made stops to jump from rocks, to carry our raft along the banks due to a massive tree blocking the way, and to enjoy a hot cocoa break. We were splashed and soaked from the icy water as we passed under imposing tock walls through lush and primitive forests on a rather cold and rainy day. Our vigorous paddling kept us warm the entire time. Floating through the rapids was a rush. Our guide would call out “forward paddle”, “backward paddle”, “stop”, and a retinue of other commands. We would do our best to follow them as quickly as we could like a rushed game of Simon Says. Then, there were some times when we could do nothing but hold on and let the rapids take us. There were many times that we thought the raft was going to flip over or someone would fall out, but thankfully neither of that happened. It was a great adventure that got my blood pumping and my heart racing- I wanted more. For the rest of the day, all I could think about was how lucky these guys are to get paid every day to go rafting on that sublime river in that national park- wouldn’t it be incredible?
That night, after I drove back to Taupo, I just walked around the town and went to a restaurant called Burgerfuel. There I got one of the most American things ever: a mac and cheeseburger.
One of the reasons I enjoy traveling is because it allows me to step out of my comfort zone. All of my life, I have been afraid of heights, but ever since being in Australia, that fear has been slowly diminishing as I would find myself more and more dangling my legs off edges of cliffs and getting closer and closer to the edge. I had a couple of hours the next morning to kill before leaving Taupo, and something I discovered was that New Zealand is a really popular place for bungy jumping. I never thought I would bungee jump ever in my life, yet there I was as I pulled into the place alongside the river and signing the waiver. After I signed and they weighed me, I was ready to go. For 20 minutes I waited nervously in my harness watching the other four people in front of me jump. Finally, it was my turn to take the plunge. The three-man group who were operating the jumps was really relaxed and that definitely assuaged my fears. I wanted them to spartan kick me off like in the movie 300, but obviously they weren’t able to do that. They instead led me to the edge, which is pretty disorientating to look down at as the river is far below. Then, on the count of 3, I just leaned forward and plunged off the station. I plunged 175 feet straight down and as soon as I was about to touch the icy water with my outstretched hands, I snapped back up. I repeatedly fell and sprung up through the air, shouting and screaming non-stop out of excitement as the adrenaline coursed through my blood. Because of physics, I was spinning around vigorously as I struggled immensely to grasp my bearings. Finally, I grabbed the pole to lower myself onto the raft that came to pick me up. There were 2 workers who actually lowered me onto the raft and brought me back to shore. The rush was absolutely invigorating as adrenaline coursed through my veins. I was grinning ear to ear on my hike back up to the building. “What a fucking champion,” I thought.