Taupo the Morning to Ya!

Furious and wincing with pain after another endlessly long day at the pack house we raced out of Te Puke into the twilight towards Taupo for a relaxing and much deserved break from the hell that has become our existence. We raced up windy roads through fog so thick at times the only thing I could make out was my own headlights reflecting back at me, we made it there in two complete pieces in under two hours. We approached the place where Paula and Ryan were staying, an elderly folks golf resort? Yes, my lovely friends, the blissfully married couple had really outdone themselves, thankfully it was all being paid for by the kind folks at the Dargaville Library, so we forgave them this horrendous choice in accommodation. We decided it was for the best if we found our own place to stay and chose the Base Camp in Taupo's quaint pub-lined downtown. They offered us bogo voucher's on booze and we bee-lined it to the bar. Eight days without drink is a very long time for me and I happily guzzled down the fizzy amber goodness post haste. Eight or was it ten beers later, we decided to retire, since Ryan had informed us we were climbing a mountain the next day. Huzzah!
The next morning we drove up towards the Tongariro Crossing and quickly learned that Whakapapa was as far as our car, Loretta, was going to go without four-wheel drive or chains, we decided against climbing up the snowy peaks and Ryan and Paula seemed happy enough to throw snowballs at each other at the base of the mountain. Our first snow in New Zealand! We drove back down the mountain towards Orekei Korako Geothermal Park. From there we took an exciting but brief two minute ferry ride across the water to the park. We were greeted by bubbling champagne geysers, steaming pools and algal flats colored with bright reds, pinks, greens and blues. The surrealness of the landscape coupled with the pungent aroma of sulpher made you feel as though you were waking on another planet. It didn't hurt that since it is the off-season we were four of the maybe fifteen visitors in the entire park. We took the path through boiling hot mud pools, a cave with sacred waters (where if you make a wish “it is guaranteed to come true!”), a forest with crazy speckled trees and stark white cliffs which were made over time by the flowing of mineral rich waters. It was a really remarkable place and one of the many geothermal sights in the area.
Afterwards we headed home, loaded up on yummy dinner and beer at the, and I cannot stress this enough, awesome Rainbow Lodge, I totally recommend it to anyone visiting Taupo.
On Sunday we ate a hearty breakfast and bid adieu to Ryan and Paula and despite the pouring rain headed out for more sightseeing. We stopped at the eerily blue Huka Falls, we ate some exquisite ginger honey and drank some heavenly honey mead at Taupo's Bee House and headed to Craters of the Moon an understated by no less impressive showing of the earth's array of steam vents. Funny enough, there wasn't a boardwalk until fairly recently and “many people left with burns” after stepping on what the hoped was solid ground. In case you didn't know, NZ's top priority is not safety, that's the individual's responsibility. Anyway, since the day was so cold, the steam was that much more visible and vents all over the ground released massive amounts into the air, as if there were tiny little factories buried underground, a mini subterranean New Jersey, if you will. It was really awesome although it in no way resembled the moon, (no spacemen walking on me face) it was thrilling to be walking above ground that felt so alive.