REAL TALK WITH DANIELLE - Travel in Taupo

Terrance found a baby bird on my back in Taupo. And as our hosts 9-year-old daughter eloquently shouted... WHY DIDN’T HE TAKE A PICTURE.

It all started when we were moving some bikes outside. They were under a plastic covering where we found a couple of birds stuck inside. We shooed the birds out to freedom, but we could still hear one more inside. We couldn’t find it for about 10 minutes and then Terrance said, “Don’t move. There’s a baby bird on your back.”

This thing was so small I literally didn’t feel it back there. Then Terrance tried to move toward it and the thing POUNCED off of me. When I finally saw it, it was so little and it clearly couldn’t fly very well yet. I told Terrance “oh my god we orphaned a baby bird and now it’s gonna die in the wild because we separated it from its parents.”

(I’ll get to the part about Taupo by the way)

But we hung out with the bird for a whole 5 minutes before it’s mom came back and started teaching the bird to fly. We didn’t get to see it happen because the tiny little bopper was having a hard time. But they were gone by the time we returned that night so I assume they’re okay?? Thank you for coming to my TedTalk.

Taupo was probably the most remote location we went to in the North Island. I mostly say that because it’s the first place I’ve been to in a long time that doesn’t have Uber. The town is relatively small, and it’s most famous for Lake Taupo, which is the largest lake in New Zealand. There’s a few fun things to do in Taupo, including lots of hikes and nature activities.

Activities:

Sailing Tour of Lake Taupo: This boat ride cost $40 NZD each, which got us pizza, and a choice of wine or beer. We sailed around Taupo for 2 hours at dusk, and got to know some other travelers. We also saw the Maori carvings in the lakeside rocks on the other side of the lake. You also get an incredible view of Mt Ngauruhoe, AKA, Mount Doom, from Lord of The Rings! Speaking of which...

Tongariro Alpine Crossing AKA Mount Doom:

We’re going.

We’re not going.

We’re going.

We’re not going.

That was basically our thought process for this 20 km (12 mile) hike around Mount Doom. Before arriving in New Zealand we settled on going. After hiking a few volcanoes, we decided it was too much. Once we arrived in Taupo our host convinced us to try it. We tested ourselves on an 8 mile hike, and decided we could do Tongariro if we paced ourselves. The tickets to the trail were sold out. Womp womp.

This is still a bucket list activity for me. I think it’s about mind over matter. I’m not athletic by any means, and although my butt is a gift from god, she doesn’t help us hike volcanoes. THAT BEING SAID... I think I could do it. This is also a classic example of “things going wrong” during travel. I know that a major part of travel is booking the things I want to do in advance. For example, I’m not missing The Great Barrier Reef. But when I’m being a little more wishy-washy about my wants and needs, I’m doing that with the knowledge that I’m not guaranteed to do what I want, and I feel okay with that.

Huka Falls: This was our “training” for Tongariro. We hiked 8 miles from Aratiatia, through Huka Falls, and back to our AirBNB.  The hike is relatively easy, except it’s dumb because it’s a bike path. But we traversed it like two determined Samwise Gamgees would (not Frodo because he did nothing). And it was SO worth it because Huka is one of the most gorgeous waterfalls I’ve ever seen. The water pours down extremely fast and is one of the bluest blues I’ve ever seen. I think I saw a sign that says it could fill 5 Olympic swimming pools every minute!

Food:

This was another “mostly grocery” stop on our trip. (Again, the groceries here are absurdly cheap compared to the expensive restaurants). But eating at our AirBNB wound up in an impromptu karaoke session with our hosts daughters, which was “bomb” as Terrance described! (The girls did not understand this phrase. Who knew they don’t use this in New Zealand? “Speak English” they told us!)

Spoon and Paddle: A cute little cafe where we stopped for WiFi and coffee.

Turkish Kebabs: The best food we ate out. These kebabs were BOMB (oops, I mean... tasty!?!) Turkish food is so delicious, and the added ice cream they served us after was the cherry on top (also tasty!)  

Travel Tips and Fun Facts:

Guns in New Zealand are being called back since the Christchurch mosque shooting. If you missed the story, there were two attacks in March 2019 which killed 51 people. Within a month of this happening, the prime minister banned semi-automatic weapons. Obviously there is controversy over this within New Zealand, and they haven’t gotten all the guns back, but the point is that the country actually did something in response to a terrorist attack. I wish I could say the US made any similar kind of progress, and these shootings happen at least... once a week?? I’m not saying what the right solution is for the US, but at least New Zealand made some kind of progress. The US is so divided right now, that we mostly just yell at each other rather than getting any work done. We are much more alike than we are different. There is some middle ground, but we care too much about our fragile egos to even begin that conversation. This isn’t meant to be a heavily political blog, but it’s almost unavoidable when you’re asked within a day of meeting people “What do you think of Trump?” If there’s one thing that’s clear from travel, all eyes are on the US, and we need to do better.

Last note - Lakes are generally colder than other places. Forgot about this! My fleece came out for the first time since Boston in Taupo.

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lake taupo maori carvings

Huka Falls