Taupo to Wellington, by bus
January 8, 2024
I really liked The Gables motel. The room would make the perfect tiny cabin, probably not too expensive to build. I used a measuring app on my phone and sketched out all the dimensions for future reference.
R. called a cab to take our bags to the bus stop (we had a few hours before it arrived but had to get out of the room) and I took a walk along the lake shore to the harbor at the mouth of the river. Everyone bustling around hopping on boats for excursions made me wish we’d done one, but you can’t do everything. I popped into the Taupo museum. Small but nicely done, it was all about geology and logging, with one room dedicated to Māori artifacts. Many pictures of the town throughout its short history. I don’t know why people idealize the past. The past always seems to be a dirty mud pit hellhole. Taupo used to be considered the dustiest city in New Zealand due to all the pumice in the soil – ground down by wagons etc. on unpaved roads.
The bus ride today was great thanks to constantly changing landscapes. We drove along Lake Taupo for the first half hour, passing lakeside settlements. The houses in new developments on the outskirts of the town were cool modern design with metal roofs I liked.
Why is the lake so blue and clear? Such beautiful colors.
After leaving the lake we came into an area of pine forest with distant volcano views.
The forest disappeared and we were surrounded by low scrub on what I presume is an ancient lava flow.
This transitioned to rolling green hills and finally – sheep! I was promised sheep and they finally appeared.
Sorry not a great picture. That’s the one frustration with riding the bus. So much to see and no way to stop and take photos.
We stopped for a lunch/pee break at 2:30 in Taihape, “the gumboot capital of the world.”
It was a nice-looking town nestled in rolling hills, but the shopping area along the highway wasn’t great. We walked as far as we could in the 20-minute break, but never found cute.
I will soon go on a rant about the ugly awning/overhang culture here. These are by no means the ugliest though the whole shopping area was very unappealing.
After this the landscape widened out to what I’d characterize as the Central Valley in California but prettier and greener with more interesting mountains to the east and west. Farms and small towns.
The driver had to take a detour so instead of continuing down Highway 1, we detoured to Highway 59 and got to drive along the Tasman sea! A new sea for me! I was a bit awestruck. It’s a big deal to see a new sea.
I was struggling to stay awake given I was sitting on the west side of the bus and the sun had been beating in on me for hours, so Wellington caught me by surprise. I blinked and suddenly we driving along a bay surrounded by steep mountains, the city perched on them. After passing through an industrial port area our terminus was the train station.
Our talkative cab driver told us that kids were on summer break through the end of the month, and many businesses and offices were still closed – as we’d surmised from our experiences.
We checked into our very cool hotel, the Naumi. Our room is great! That’s the problem with travel. Half of me wishes I could just hang out and take baths and enjoy the room, but we’ve got to explore the city.
The hotel is located on Cuba Street, on of two streets in the entire city my guide book called out as being “hip.” When only two streets are hip in a whole city I get nervous, but Cuba street was nice with many historic buildings, but now we need to talk about the awnings. It’s time.
Every shopping district we’ve been to in New Zealand has awful awnings tacked on to otherwise beautiful buildings sometime in the last 40 years at seemingly the lowest cost possible. I don’t know how much it rains here (okay I looked it up – 50 inches) but wow…way to make a pretty street look like burning man.
We popped into a restaurant for a drink, then had dinner at Ombra, a highly-rated restaurant we didn’t think we’d be able to get into without a reservation, but it was after 8 and beginning to clear out.
Prices are fine here (San Francisco equivalent or a bit cheaper) once you do the math. $1 NZ is 66 cents U.S., so I’ve been doing sloppy math trying to divide everything into thirds.
This was another epic day, with literal twists and turns. This vacation is…picture me doing explosions with my hands.
The bluest water–everywhere.
Jan. 7, 2024, Taupo, New Zealand (North Island)
Epic day today! I went out early to walk a mile to the nearest market get eggs and bread since we’ve got a tiny kitchen and I could cook for maybe the only time on the trip. It was cool, 56 degrees, which felt nice. En route (walking along the lake) I came across an outdoor food and crafts market getting set up. Despite having no room in my suitcase I bought a small owl sculpture made of scrap metal and a painting of birds on a delicate piece of thin porcelain that is probably the worst thing possible to buy given all jostling of the upcoming travel – but it was the perfect gift for my mom. (Note from future me: It survived.)
I also got fresh homemade cinnamon buns from a food truck–right out of the pan. The small supermarket, a few blocks away, looked depressingly like a gas station market from the outside but was well-stocked and I got eggs and snacks.
Lake Taupo, Taupo volcano in the distance. It’s active.
I took a quick dip in our hot tub before breakfast. It was the perfect temperature and I gather it’s hot springs water and not chlorinated, as it was a cement pool with no complicated plumbing. The fully-enclosed outdoor shed isn’t the nicest place to spend time. Concrete block walls and plastic ceiling…I wish they’d left the roof open to the sky, especially for stargazing.
First adventure was getting a cab to Wairakei hot springs. Though this is a decent-sized town there are few cabs and according to the woman that picked us up from the bus stop, only three Uber drivers. We got a recommendation from the hotel owner, called a taxi, and waited 20 minutes. Eh, it’s all good sitting outside staring at the lake. We are in full vacation mode and in no big hurry.
The hot springs were only a few miles out of town, right next to a geothermal power plant (just like the Blue Lagoon in Iceland). While the small, milky-blue pools surrounded by nature were enjoyable, they didn’t live up to the hype. The hype being the one photo I saw in my guide book.
In real life it was like floating around in a milky swimming pool with not enough shade and many opportunities to break a toe. The four pools, each warmer than the next, had multiple entry points with slippery cement stairs descending into the water, but you couldn’t see the stairs (which ranged in width from one to three feet and were different heights) because the water was milky. Everyone was suffering and guests were yelling out warnings to their friends. “No, no, there’s one more – you aren’t all the way down yet.” I began to walk in a sideways shuffle to protect my toes. The stairs were everywhere.
After while it wasn’t that relaxing to sit in a hot pool in the hot sun in the middle of the day with nothing much to look at except other tourists so we agreed to move on.
In the changing room, a princess was taking her sweet time in THE ONLY SHOWER while a polite woman and I waited. Eventually I yelled to the person, “Is there only one shower in there?” The flustered woman/princess replied, “I’m just rinsing my hair. I didn’t realize anyone was waiting.” Really? It’s a freaking hot springs with 100 people and this is the only shower. Sigh. Shame on the venue for only one shower.
By some miracle we got an Uber from the hot springs to Huka Falls in under 15 minutes. The falls are more of a cascade or rapids: it’s a narrowing of a river that creates a beautiful blue tangle of water.
The bridge over the river was both a boon and an eyesore, as yes it allowed me to take nice photos but also ruined the natural feeling.
We wandered down a path to look for views of the river before the falls and I discovered the trail we were on led back to town–a mere 49-minute walk along the river. R. doesn’t love hiking but this seemed totally doable.
The walk was beautiful and amazing and one of the highlights of the trip. I was beside myself with happiness, though I did get tired and hot and we ran out of water. I was IN New Zealand. All the way in! Unusual trees and foliage. Exotic birds. Tiny waterfalls. No insects. The trail was near the Waikato river but rose and fell, alternating between tall trees and ferns and tantalizing river views. R was not happy when it turned out the hike wasn’t 49 minutes but more like 100, but he was a good sport and acknowledged that it was worth it.
We exited the trail as soon as we could at Otumkeke thermal park, closest place to a road, and called an Uber back to town. We had a very late lunch at a really good Indian Nepalese place. Not because we were starving. It was good. We had lamb momos because, New Zealand.
We walked the mile back to the motel despite being tired because it was very beautiful walking along the lake and the lakeshore was full of happy people laughing and swimming and doing summer things.
We relaxed on the front porch of our hotel room (aka the walkway in front of the parking lot) and watched the sun set. It was even more amazing tonight, and I ran across the dangerous road to get lakeside photos. Such a great day and a great night.
Roadtripz and Other Journeys 