Road Tripping it to Taupo

Last weekend the boyfriend and I road tripped to Taupo. It's about a 5 1/2 hour drive from Wellington so we headed straight after work on Friday and got there at about 10.30pm. The drive there was pretty boring as it was dark for most of the journey so we didn't see much! I made the time pass merrily by singing along to CDs. Yes the boyfriend really enjoyed that!! ;)

For those of you who aren't familiar with NZ and are vaguely interested, Lake Taupo is the largest lake by surface area in NZ, and the second largest freshwater lake by surface area in Oceania.

  

There are a lot of water activities you can do on the lake like kayaking, sailing, jet boating etc. We went on a great sail boat trip last year, but this weekend we were taking it easy as I'd not been feeling too well.

On Saturday we visited Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland and explored the amazing volcanic craters and pools....

The Champagne Pool

Amazing lime green volcanic pool!

 

Champagne Pool

Volcanic waterfalls

 

Look at the steam coming from the water!

 

The boyfriend spotted a mouse running on a crater!! Cute!

 

I was sensible and wore my mum's weatherproof coat. I'm not sure how I feel about that!!

 

Those craters sure do stink!!!

My new home! ;)

 

There's my personal tour guide!

 

 We also had a quick stop in Rotorua and had  afternoon tea in the Government Gardens.

Rotorua

On Sunday we had a walk along the lake, dipped our feet in the thermal springs and road tripped it back to Wellington (with a little stop in Otaki on the way!).

Water coming from this pipe is RED HOT

I think this photo is great! A bach with prime lake front positioning anyone!?

Warming his tootsies!

It was quite nippy in the breeze!

Free pumice galore!!

Lunch stop on the way home

What a lovely weekend!