From the north end of Lake Taupo the longest river in New Zealand, the Waikato River, flows northward towards Auckland and the ocean. It sees a huge amount of water move – creating the Huka Falls not far from town, but also making for an enjoyable walk to get there.

I think that is one of the things I enjoy about Taupo – everything you want is accessible without a car. Want to visit Huka falls? It’s about 1.5 hours from the downtown by foot. Want to go bungy jumping? It’s on that same path. Walk along the lake? Lots of great paths to choose there. Camping? Less than an hour walk to the downtown/bus station. That isn’t to say I haven’t gotten good use from my car still, driving it to the campground at least, but most days I drive downtown, park it, and don’t return until lunch time to grab food, or some days, until the evening to head back to camping. Taupo has quickly become one of my favourite spots in New Zealand so far.

Today found me walking along the Waikato out to the Huka Falls and back. After 20 minutes of walking I found myself looking upon these cliffs.

Closer inspection (and hearing screaming every few minutes), and I discovered that this is the bungy jumping spot for Taupo! If you look closely you can make out someone just about to touch the water.

Something I want to try, but I’m holding off on this one. Queenstown is THE place to bungy jump apparently, so I’ll just wait until I’m there. Still, even this smaller jump looked plenty intimidating. Lots of fun watching other people toss themselves off the edge of the platform though.

The thing I really enjoyed about walking along the Waikato is that the colour looks so surreal at times. The river runs pretty deep, but the water is *clear*. Crystal clear. It doesn’t show well in pictures, but walking along the river bank you can always see right to the bottom, unless darkness swallows the light before the bottom is found.

After the bungy area I came across a Thermal park. Beautiful rolling green hills led down to the river once again.

Shortly after a decent ascent, a clearing in the trees allowed me to view the river…and my campground (called Reid’s Farm)!

Looking pretty quiet and clean right now, most people take off for the day and return in the evening (myself included). I’ve had a different spot every night, but I generally enjoy the area up top more than close to the river – less mosqitoes.

About 20 minutes after that the rapids began.

I had made my destination, Huka Falls.

Having a simple lunch of tuna sandwich and apple, I relaxed for a bit before heading back towards town. This time I stopped at the thermal spa area and investigated one of the streams.

Sure enough, the water was hot. Not scalding, but enjoyable bath temperature hot. If in need for a free shower…

And on the way back I snapped a panorama of the Waikato as it runs through the bungy area. Came out pretty fish-eyed this time, oh well! Great walk on another sunny day here in Taupo.

Taupo’s most notable feature is the lake. It would be a shame to just see it from the shoreline, no?

I took a sailing trip aboard the Barbary, an 80+ year old sail boat that had just in the last year gone under a complete retrofit – including changing the old, noisy diesel motor to an electric. In other words the ship was silent running at all times, a pretty cool thing. We didn’t need the motor much anyways, the wind and weather was excellent all round.

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One of the things I think I’ll be trying to do from now on is to hit the farmer’s market wherever I’m staying, on Saturdays or Sundays. Here in Taupo it falls on each Saturday, so I headed over in the morning.

Taupo’s wasn’t too big (not a ton of nearby farmland I suppose), but there were several options for fresh veggies or fruits. I also am keeping an eye out for a few last pieces I’d like to gather for myself while camping, such as pans, plates and utensils. I just want cheap stuff, I don’t want to pay much of anything for this stuff so it doesn’t have to be anything special. No such luck this weekend there, but I did find some tasty fruit.

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While the major mountains of the North Island lie to the south of Lake Taupo, one large hill / small mountain makes it’s presence known near the town of Taupo, on the north edge of the lake. Mt. Tauhara.

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Just outside the town boundaries of Taupo lies the region called ‘Craters of the Moon’. Taupo being a volcanic region, I was curious to see how this area looked. After paying my small ($6) fee, I ventured in to find a sea of green.

When I had heard ‘Craters of the Moon’, I had pictured a lunar landscape akin to what I found on the White Island, not mostly green and brown grasses/ferns and the like. Oh well, I had already started my walk, not like I wouldn’t finish it.

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Who doesn’t want to jump at a bar hanging 2 meters away from you, suspended 13 meters above ground?

This was actually the finale of the hour of activities though. Going back to the start, the course doesn’t look TOO scary from the ground.

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After my longest stay in a single place since…probably March (!!), I have put Ohakune in my rear-view mirror and started my travels once again. While I generally try not to repeat spots too much, I simply hadn’t spent much time in Taupo the two times I passed through. And something was pulling me here, both times through it just ‘felt’ like a great spot.

Taupo has a couple other things going for it that I like, simply past the ‘feel’. It’s both a small town and yet has a thriving tourism economy, so there are lots of shops and competition, keeping prices lower. It’s got great scenery, which I’ll be exploring over the next few days here. Finally, free camping is in abundance, with the best spot being less than 5km outside of town along the Huka river. It’s a beautiful spot and where I’ll be parking my car for the night during my stay here. Summer is nearly here so camping shouldn’t be a cold experience anymore. This will in effect save me $20+/night, which will help stretch that old budget just a little further. I only have one hurdle there to still overcome – cooking and food. While I’ve had a gas cooker and propane tank for quite some time, I still have no pots/pans to use. I’ve bought a set online (used), now it’s just a wait and see for when it might arrive in the mail. And then I’ll be able to enjoy instant noodles, rice and sausages, and many other exciting meals out in the wilds of New Zealand. I for one can’t wait! Until then, I’ll just have to hike to keep myself busy. And maybe jump off high platforms or something exciting…:D