Day 10 - Chris' Birthday (21st December)

21st December - Lake Taupo Here We Come


Birthday Boy
It Chris’ 48th birthday and breakfast starts with bucks fizz, a leisurely breakfast including Julie’s home-made rice pudding, pancakes and muffins and Rice Crispies.

Leave @94 mid morning and head down to lake Taupo and Will’s Place. Chris's web maps mean we can leave at a civilised time and know we will be at our next "home" in time for supper (getting posh in our old age). A mountainous route with excellent scenery. The roads are empty and we zing along through the forests. The weather is just great, sunny with clear blue skies. I cant' get Johnny Nash's "I Can See Clearly Now" out of my head. Maybe it's because we haven’t seen a drop of rain since our first day in Auckland.

Aratiatia Falls

An unexpected treat befell us as we made an unplanned detour - the Aratiatia Falls. Free parking with walkways and viewing points built by the tourist authorities, puts the UK to shame as our grasping councils and tourist quangos charge for every space they manage, even when it has been provided freely by patrons and government bodies (no more whinging about home, lets enjoy this great spectacle). This is a man-made lake on the Aratiata river. A few times each day, spill gates from the dam are opened at the top of the Aratiatia rapids and the narrow gorge fills with turbulent water surging past at up to 90,000 litres per second. The initial turbulence recedes to a placid stream. It shows the awesome power of the river.

At Aratiatia the Waikato River falls naturally through 28 metres in the space of one kilometre. This natural drop has been harnessed for environmentally-sustainable hydroelectric power - headwaters are diverted through a tunnel to the power station. Each day at 10am, 12 noon and 2pm - and also at 4pm in summer - the flow through the Aratiatia rapids is allowed to resume its natural rate. The river is fed by the mighty Lake Taupo. Above us still more sights as the Huka Falls are on our tourist radar.

This awesome display sits well with the other unplanned visits that await (Lewis Pass, Mud Hut winery, Kaikora seals and the Albatross colony at Dunedin)

Back on the road and off to Huka Falls. Chris has his AA maps and directions at the ready. Our whole holiday has been planned down to the last roundabout, traffic light and junction, but that saves lots of hassle and arguments.

Hub Cafe and Picnic Lunch
Lunchtime so we stop above the falls for a drink at the Hub Cafe with its helicopter parked outside. Beautifully clean, good coffee and not too many screaming kids. What children that are around are very well behaved. Lunch was a picnic opposite the cafe. It’s hot but we don’t care. A couple of Montleith cold beers washed down our salad, while the girls supped white wine. Hold on guys, somebody is driving. One final note the grass in the picnic area was mown, no litter and no dog crap – this is not civilisation as we know it Jim.

Huka Falls Here We Come

Free parking and a donation box for the upkeep of the area and the services. This is novel - free parking, a donation and friendly staff - this could attract tourists. The canyon is not that big, but the water flow is impressive. We cross the bridge from the shop to the footpaths opposite. Once over the bridge we can walk right up to the canyon edge.

Wandering to the mouth of the canyon we are alone, so many people around yet seclusion is so easy to find. Take lots of pictures then off down the other end to see the falls.

The falls flow into a lake where there’s a jet boat hammering over the lake and doing 360 degree turns. Pat, Chris and I have booked ourselves on the Shotover Jet in Queenstown. Coleen wasn’t keen, but now wants to go as well.

Taupo Town

From Huka falls we head for Lake Taupo and the main town on the western edge, surprisingly called -  Taupo. We breeze through it with the windows down and the American style aircon turned off. This car could keep the arctic ice flows at bay the aircon is so powerful. We head off for Omori and our overnight accommodation at Wills Place. The lake is huge. To think it was created from a giant volcanic eruption. It is over 100 miles around its perimeter and over 600 feet at its deepest point. The eruption in AD 181 was recorded by the Romans as the sunsets were turned vivid red by the dust in the high atmosphere. I wonder what that did for global warming. No doubt the Roman environment ministry at the time blamed it all on the rise in two chariot families and underfloor villa heating systems.

It’s around 6 o’clock when we arrive at Wills Place. We are greeted by Jill Wills. The house sits, overlooking the lake with a view to kill for. Our accommodation is the ground floor looking out over the lawns running down to the cliff top of the lake. There are two well appointed bedrooms and a lounge. The owners live above. It was their holiday home and now, retired from farming they enjoy the company of guests and the “holiday” lifestyle in this beautiful setting.

We unpack and go for a walk down to the lake. Jill is cooking our evening meal as it is Chris’ official birthday. As the girls are here to celebrate their 60th birthdays (Coleen August and Pat in February) they lose out as Chris and I actually have our birthdays during the holiday. So we let them have honorary birthdays like the Queen. The lake side has sub-tropical plants growing along the beach. Man-made paths and seats for the elderly and infirm are thoughtfully side-by-side jet-skis, waterskiing and extreme sports. We are still fit enough for extreme(ish) sports but still need to sit down and rest sometimes. Black swans bob on the water along with pumice stone pebbles floating like weird swans eggs. We pick some good sized ones as they will make useful presents for our girls.

Back to Wills Place for a few drinks out on the veranda before our meal. The Highlander needs all its immense power to carry our ice bags of wine and beer. Jill and Brian bring down our meal.

Chicken Breast in orange sauce, potatoes, sweet potatoes and salad, followed by meringue, ice cream and fruit (healthy beggars these colonials). All washed down with some excellent white wine. The meal gets a thumbs up. We are going to rate our meals and accommodation later over a few beers and glasses of wine - sad b*stards, but it is a good way of reminiscing.

It’s been a long day. We watch a documentary on Emperor Penguins who stand for six months at the South Pole to hatch their young, I think, as we all slept through most of it – then went to bed. Slept like a log.