Lake Taupo and the Drive Back to Wellington

Today was another day of driving, which meant another chance to see still more of New Zealand's stunning scenery. In about six hours of driving time, we went from Rotorua to just north of Wellington, the town where we would catch the ferry the next morning.

On our way was Lake Taupo, formed by a massive volcanic explosion that occurred in AD 186. Today, it's one of the trout fishing capitals of the world.


We stopped into the town of Taupo, a bustling yet casual sports community that hosts the Crater to Lake Challenge, a multi-sport single-day race event involving 4.3k of skiing, 35.7k of mountain biking, 34.5k of road biking, 16.6k of kayaking, 31.5k of water skiing and 11.5k of running.

And Dan thought running marathons was hard!

We spent a relaxed hour enjoying a delicious lunch and coffee at the Bodyfuel Cafe.



And then headed back on the road. Here is Mount Ruapehu, as it looms into view south of Lake Taupo:


More scenes from the road:



Chalk cliffs, a famous landmark in the region surrounding Taihape, NZ (also south of Taupo):


We decided to spend the night in Porirua, about a 40-minute drive from the Wellington ferry terminal. And as it turned out, at NZ$150 (about US$80), this nice little double room with a kitcheonette and complimentary french press coffee was the most expensive accommodation we had on our entire one month tour of New Zealand. If you can just get past the airfare, it just isn't that expensive to get around in this country.

Finally, after a long day of driving, we enjoyed a couple of badly-needed beers and some fish and chips in a Kelly's Irish Pub. Tomorrow, we'll be taking the ferry back to the South Island. Our New Zealand adventure, sadly, is beginning to draw to a close.