True camping in Taupo

Our last weekend during student teaching Laura and I decided to head out to Taupo - former site of a super volcano which blew itself into a crater, now a lake, the size of Singapore! Today, Taupo is a beautiful city and home to many natural wonders, none of which we saw as we got off the bus as it had clouded over. It waited to rain, though, until we had headed out of town towards our FREE campsite. Then, it began pouring. Fifty minutes later (not the 30 according to the man at the information center, who apparently either never walked with a backpack to this campground or is the bionic man) we arrived at Reid's Farm, a lovely campsite next to the river.

It stayed lovely for 5 minutes while we pulled the tent out, and then it promptly began pouring again. Ah well, tent pitched, we walked back up to the road to await our pickup for Huka Jet - a jet boat company. They arrived a little while later, but all jet boat rides had been cancelled due to the inclement weather. We decided to go with them anyway, just in case it cleared up. It didn't. So we ate at the prawn farm next door (not recommended, therefore no paragraph on food for this post) and then the lovely folks from Huka Jet dropped us downtown where we watched a great Scottish film called Ae Fond Kiss; I do recommend this film.

We watched the film in the "Lounge Theatre," which was a lot like my Dad's living room, only with movie seats (about 10 of them) instead of a sofa. Laura and I cracked up when the screen lit up with a DVD selection - the film projector man selected "theatrical release version" and we were on our way!

Another 50 minute walk back to camp, sans tents and rain. Thankfully, we fell asleep immediately and thus did not realize that none of the toilets (read longdrops) were functioning. Thank goodness we're early risers, as there's not a lot of coverage in campgrounds if you know what I mean. And this, unfortunately, was the one weekend I had NOT brought along my Freshette. The Freshette is camping/backpacking/avoiding-filthy-public-toilet equipment designed specifically for women. In a nutshell, if you will, it makes it possible for women to relieve themselves standing up and mostly clothed. Finally, equality. I, too, can now drink on the boat.

Sunday morning was cloudless! What a sky. We jetboated up the river to the beautiful Huka Falls (pics later), and then walked along part of the coast of Lake Taupo.

Lastly, we stopped at the Scenic Cellar - the best wine store I've ever been to. We'll be touring Hawke's Bay next week, but thought it would be wiser if we purchased the Hawke's Bay wine BEFORE we left to backpack around the South Island.

Taupo definitely deserves more than 2 days! Things to do next time: Orakei Korako thermal region (the best left in the world) and a sail to the modern Maori carvings on a private island in Lake Taupo.

Love from NZ,
Teej