New Zealand—Hamilton to Lake Taupo, February 8 & 9, 2025

Hamilton to Taupo—February 8, 2025

We had a slight scare this morning when Marie's weather feed sent her a story about a thunderstorm moving through central New Zealand that flooded Taupo, causing scattered power outages. The weather app announced that some roads were closed as well. So I sent a message to Christine at Acacia Motel asking if she had power. There's nothing like having a local tell you what's really happening. And then I called Intercity Bus to find out if the road closures had affected travel times.

Intercity Bus assured me that if a closure affects the schedule, they would email me immediately and help me plan around them. And an hour later Christine messaged me back, saying the motel hadn't lost power and all was well. When we arrived Christine told us the street in front of the motel did flood but drained into the lake right away.

The highway 10 minutes outside of Hamilton to Taupo.

30 minutes outside Hamilton and we're down to one lane.

Cattle and horse ranches dotted the way until an hour or so from Lake Taupo when we hit logging towns.

That scar is a clear cut.

A close up of the clear cut.

Really, really close up.

And across the highway were replanted forests.

The pine trees go on forever.

On our Taupo orientation walk, we discovered this place.

We sat inside and looked out at the lake.

Their menu was amazing. The prices are in NZ$. 1 NZ dollar=57 US cents.

Garlic foccacia and mussels in cream sauce...

...was scrumptious. Fantastic linner!

The mussels were as pretty as they were delicious.

A mural on a public toilet.

This mural is on the side of Taupo Elementary School.

Maybe tomorrow I'll ask if this is due to air conditioning or the fact you can walk through the children's play area and enjoy your happy meal on board.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Taupo—February 9, 2025

This morning, after enjoying a delicious date scone and fabulous cups of flat white coffees, we took a taxi to Huka Falls. Our plan was to visit the falls and walk the 4.8 miles back into Taupo, and that's what we did. 

 

As an aside, the coffee in New Zealand is FANTASTIC! We are fans of the flat white, a cup of coffee with extra espresso with foamy steamed milk floating on top. It's not unlike a latte, except there's more coffee than milk. Everywhere we go, folks in this county know how to make them.

This totem pole in the center of Taupo on the lake front was dedicated in March 2023 . It represents when Brightwell, the master carver, was sent to Taupo by his grandmother, Te Huatahi Susie Gilbert, to carve a po whenua (a Maori totem) to consolidate the family claim to disputed ancestral land. 

I spent over 30 minutes looking for specific information about this Maori totem pole and the above paragraph and the three bulleted items below was all I could find.

1. Maori symbols represent the culture, history, and belief system of the Maori people.
2. The symbols can represent strength, loyalty, relationships, and commitment.
3. The symbols can also represent the past and the future.

This, and the lake, is why people come here.

The first 300 meters of the trail back to town.

Waikato River and Lake Taupo create Huka Falls.

The flow of this water drains toward the falls.

This is what the rest of the track back to town was like.

Now there's something unusual. Seems normal in Taupo.

Everyone should have a flock of sheep in their yard.

This sign was a 1/4 mile after the other one.

This tells visitors they are about to enter a town that prizes sports.

The view on the way into Taupo.

The water in Lake Taupo is exceptionally clear.

Yes, these are public toilets.

Loved the name of these two boats moored next to each other.

This guy was working on his frisbee golf throws, the equivalent of a driving range. 

After a rest up we headed out for a bit of meandering and we weren't disappointed. Lots of the buildings here have murals painted on their sides and we captured a few of them by walking up an alley.

Our first stop today was McDonalds to investigate the DC 3.

This guy sat down opposite us at PubnGrub.

 

In the early evening we went in search of one of the sports bars showing the Super Bowl, and Finn's Bistro & Bar said they would. We have to check out at 10AM, and the first bus for Napier departs at 3:15PM.

Luckily, Super Bowl LIX airs here (Monday) at noon so we can hang out at Finn's for the first half or so before walking the block and a half to the Visitor & Information Centre to meet our bus. It all worked out.

After that, we sat at a park bench in front of our motel and watched the sun set.

 

 

 

Our last day in Taupo started again at Cafe Baku, because they make a mean flat white (like everywhere else in this country), but more importantly, have a date & nut scone to die for. After that we walked around town and discovered even more murals.

We spent 3 hours at Finn's Bistro & Bar watching the Superbowl while waiting for our 3:15PM bus to Napier.

The screen at Finn's was about 12 feet wide.

The above painting of Janis and Jimi and Kurt Cobain, John Lennon, and Amy Winehouse were  surprising for a sports bar. Guess the owner is a music connoisseur too.