On Monday Dave and I decided to do a 12 km walk (sound familiar?!) from the town of Taupo to the Aratiatia Dam. Part of the barrel scene from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug was filmed at this dam. First we walked to the Huka Falls and saw some crazy looking mushrooms.
This is not an actual picture of the falls because there were about seventy zillion teenagers on field trips at the falls and it was quite a shock to our system after the hour of solitary walking it took us to get there! This is only a picture of the rapids leading up to the falls. After that we sat down and ate the most squished sandwiches in the history of New Zealand. Oh yeah, did I mention it was raining a lot which is why we look like drowned rats?!? Awesome.
After another two hours of walking, we got to the Aratiatia Dam, and then we sat down to wait. We got there about an hour before the dam opened and so we had some time to kill. Surprise, surprise, we took some pictures :)
And then the dam floodgates opened and things got interesting!
I actually took quite a few videos of this because it was really interesting (and slightly terrifying!) at the same time! Then Donny and Marika met us and we had our worst lunch experience in New Zealand at Lava Glass. I ordered an oven baked stuffed mushroom which I was really excited about until I realized that they forgot to mention that they had stuffed the mushroom with BACON. And I'm vegetarian. Blah. I might have been so mad/disappointed that I threw the mushroom at Dave. He understood :)
But then we had one of the coolest experiences of the trip thus far. We headed to Craters Of The Moon park which was a one hour walk through a steamy geothermal area. The entire place was filled with mud holes burping steam. I took videos there too and I might try to share some later. Until then, these pictures will have to suffice. (This experience was a little like what I imagine Yellowstone might be like.)
But then we had one of the coolest experiences of the trip thus far. We headed to Craters Of The Moon park which was a one hour walk through a steamy geothermal area. The entire place was filled with mud holes burping steam. I took videos there too and I might try to share some later. Until then, these pictures will have to suffice. (This experience was a little like what I imagine Yellowstone might be like.)
This was a really big crater where you could actually hear the mud boiling at the bottom! It was super-cool. And weird. And then we drove to Cambridge for a full day of touring around the next day.
*To read about the first part of Day 12, go here.
*To read about the first part of Day 12, go here.
That is so beautiful! I can only imagine how pretty it was for you all being there in person.
ReplyDeleteThat water is absolutely gorgeous! You all did a great job taking so many pictures, even without children along! I tend to forget! I did not know, even after all this time, that you were a vegetarian! I probably could be quite easily as meat is not really my favorite at all!! Very funny about throwing the mushroom...I just might have laughed out loud....for my cat to glare at me....as it is naptime and everything is supposed to be quiet. Haha :)
ReplyDeleteWow, that water looks blue in the lake and dam and even in the rapids! Just beautiful! So will you think very insensitive if I think that stuffed mushroom sounded delicious...I mean, it's bacon! ;-) Okay, even if your pictures of the place were totally disappointing (which they aren't), I would still want to go to a place called Craters of the Moon Park. :-)
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