A Kayak Adventure on Lake Taupo Followed By a Cool Hike:

We generally try to avoid touristy towns, especially when it is “in season” like here but we heard Lake Taupo (pronounced like Toypo) had to be seen. We located a kayak hire (they call rentals hires out here) in the cool little spot called Acacia Bay. We opted for a tandem kayak because, why not? The tandem bike has taken us many cool places so maybe this kayak would too.

The water and the sky were such fascinating hues of blue. Crystal clear water too. There were other boaters around but not too many in this secluded little cove.

Still wearing the ubiquitous bucket hats to protect the noggin and neck, never mind our lips as mine are quite sun burnt at this point. New Zealand demands that all folks, no matter how old, must have their life jackets on at all times. Big fines if caught. Being in a tandem kayak makes some picture taking easier, but can’t really get good pics of the boat itself.

We snuck up on these black swans searching for their lunch. Cool to watch the birds dive below the surface and reappear elsewhere. Boy was the water clear.

We have found that most houses in the country of New Zealand are very modest in size and appearance. Bet the houses on the hill with a lake view sell for a pretty penny though.

We paddled down to another cove and found this “Holiday Park” where freedom camping is a thing. Many tourists rent camper vans to explore the islands. With the price of gas at around $8 per gallon US, as well as our aging bodies do not want to sleep in the back of a van with no bathroom either, we would watch others freedom camp and live it up a little ourselves. There aren’t many places that free camping isn’t allowed, but when it is not those spots are clearly marked.

Next up was a cool little 5km trek to see the Waitonga Falls. A hike here is called a trek and signage is usually in minutes “return”. Return means roundtrip. Took us a while to figure that out. On our way we had fabulous views of Mt. Ruapehu.. Not sure if there are any trails leading to its summit. An adventure for another day maybe?

A lot of treks in New Zealand are on these boardwalk type tracks. Keeps folks from running all over the place and destroying the native alpine flora. Not our favorite tread to walk on but we understand. Took lots of money and labor to put this 2 km of track in way back when.

Nice little alpine lakes where we rested and took in the view were dotted along the trail. Reminded us a bit of the Lakes Of The Clouds on the trail up Mt. Washington back home.

As it has been a dry summer so far around here the falls were “falling” a bit less. Waitonga Falls is over 39 meters high (about 125 feet) so still would not want to take a fall off that.

Laurie is being very patient with my picture taking but was champing at the bit to check out where the stream was leading.

Very peaceful little stream with no one but Charlie around to ruin the tranquil atmosphere. Charlie is a 70 something guy from the Lake Placid area back home. We ended up having him over for Christmas dinner as he was traveling alone. Nice guy!

A cat lover’s dream come true! Double fisted kitty purring kitty cats. They were well behaved for the most part but one time one of them took a good chunk of flesh out of the other when he/she felt attention from me was being hogged or stolen.