Hi friends!

It has been a beautiful day. We woke up in Rotorua and the sun was shining which was a nice change from the last few very rainy days. It was a relatively early start this morning. We drove a few blocks up the road into the central town area of Rotorua to be picked up for our morning activity. We pulled up at the information centre in town and the guides picked us up in their very old and rattley minibus. The guides were very cool. Companies like these always tend to hire internationals who come on working holidays which is great because they always have excellent personalities which match the job.

Rafting pic

It was a 50 minute drive out to the river which felt very long as the rickety old bus struggled to make the trip. We arrived at a small change room building and put on our very large, very insulated wetsuits and then jumped back in the bus which took us to the river. We got assigned our 6 person rafts with our Australian guide Tom who had great knowledge of the river and was also a funny and likeable guy.

Rafting PIc

Rafting was a great experience. It isn’t all intensity though. There was one really intense rapid which was really fun and thrashed us around but a lot of it is just floating down the river and taking in the beautiful sights and the serene nature. This was really calming and lovely. Really amazing scenery to be seen.

Rafting Pic

Following the white water rafting they drove us back to the changerooms where we got to try our first fish and chips in New Zealand.  Fish and Chips is a staple of NZ culture and can you really say that you have been to New Zealand if you didn’t have some fish and chips? It was pretty good – not too different from Australian fish and chips. We got back onto the bus and dropped off to our car in Rotorua and we immediately hit the road to our next destination. It was goodbye to stinky Rotorua.

Rotorua Pic

Our first stop on the way to our destination was Huka Falls. Huka Falls is a waterfall or rapid that is made up of turquoise coloured water. It is powerful and beautiful. I don’t think photos do it justice. Huka Falls was a really great stop. We underestimated how much we were going to enjoy this. We would recommend everyone stop here on their way to Taupo. It really is mesmerising.

Huka Falls Pic

After spending some time staring at the falls we got to and checked into our accommodation. The place we are staying at is very average. It’s an AirBnB house which is just a bit musty. We left soon after to go check out Taupo. After some walking around we came across McDonalds which was awesome. Not because of the food, obviously, but because this McDonalds literally has a full sized aeroplane on top of it. Pretty unique and random.

Aeroplane Pic

During our walk-about  we stumbled across and decided to have a go at Taupo Hole in One Challenge. This is a floating island out in the middle of the great Taupo lake that has a few golfing greens in the lake. You crack the balls out onto the island and if you get a hole in one, you get a prize – up to $10,000. Of course we didn’t want it, but Ronnie was hitting them pretty well despite having not played golf in a long time and put the ball close to the island on pretty much every shot.

Golfing pic

After this we went home and got changed so we could go out for dinner. We went to this nice restaurant next to the lake called Dixie Browns. It was pretty good. Aimee and Lorant ordered steak and ribs which they enjoyed and Bec got this massive pizza. Ronnie opted for Pork Belly which was well worth it. This was a really nice restaurant experience. We then had a nice look over the lake and took some photos before we went home for an early night. 

I ❤ Taupo Pics

Much Love,

Ronnie & Aimee.