eNZed - day 12 (26-5-5)

Today we were on a misson to Taupo (after we farewell to Rotorua, of course). We woke up and drove south to Taupo with our main goal of getting Dave to shower =). On the way, we stopped at the Volcano Information Center. Dave and I bought posters and chatted up the lady behind the counter. We also paid to go into the museum, and A got in free since we were so cool. Inside there were all types of interesting models and thin sections of rocks.. but the most fun were the movies about the most recent eruptions of Mt. Ruapehu (roo-uh-pay-hoo). It was funny cause you'd think, this could be a majorly explosive eruption... people will be nervous and wanting to get away from the mountain. But we forgot that we were in New Zealand, away from the perpetuation of fear that is rampant in the US.. All those people wanted to know was when the ski resort on the side of the volcano was going to open back up. This eruption was ruining their ski season. Awesome.



After the Info. Center, we stopped at Huka Falls just north of Taupo. This waterfall was impressive. Not spectacularly tall, but a lot of water was moving through this gorge and it was SOOOOO blue! It looked like the ocean in Hawaii...

..see!?

I also found the tiniest mushroom ever, but didn't take a picture cause I clearly wasn't thinking.

After the falls, we sat on the Taupo lake shore. Dave walked around and took pics while I wrote and A and I watched some guys hitting golf balls trying to hit a hole in one onto this raft off shore.



We headed off to the All Seasons Holiday Park for showers, laundry, hot tubbing with a bottle of chardonnay, and warm, dry sleep. Dave and I compared and played with our rocks while I got drunk off of half a cup of wine before going into the hot tub.. I can't describe how nice that feels when you've been in the rain for the last 2 weeks. A and I played some pool, then we all passed out.

To see all of the pics from Day 12, click here!