Tag Archives: Taupo

New Zealand, Photography

40. Taupo – Rotorua – Tauranga

Sunday, March 22: Sunny at first, very cloudy in the early afternoon, then sunny again

Liz & Phil’s (airbnb, $48)

Breakfast was possible at the trucker’s place, as I had everything with me, and the free truckers’ coffee could be diluted with milk, the cereal finished off, and the bowl washed. Then it was off very early to Taupo to try to get accommodation for tonight but the i-site was not providing more than its usual service – no wifi hotspot, but, “You can try a café.” Yeah, right, which one. Taupo i-site seems to have won the prize for the worst service – any question you ask, you realise that the answer is the one you had already come up with anyway. No added value asking there at all. Read more…

GPS Tracks, New Zealand, Photography, Tramping

39. Waipawa – Cape Kidnappers – Taupo

Saturday, March 21: Sunny the whole day with very few clouds, warm

Tramping: Clifton to Cape Kidnappers along the beach and back, 19.1 km

Stag Park Diner, 151 Napier Taupo Highway, State Highway 5, Taupo 3379, tel.: +64 7 378 6403, twin as single, shared facilities ($55)

Layers leaching
Leaching lime is most commonly seen, but also iron oxide, forming strange patterns

It was nice to have slept in a real bed again, above all, with a real pillow. The room was spotless and the fridge with freezer rebooted the chilly bag; a short trip to the supermarket procured everything that was needed for breakfast and lunch, and I was away back on the road to Hastings by 9:30.

In Hastings the library opened as I arrived and they were charging for the wifi @ $2.5 per half hour. Tried the BBH places in Taupo, but all booked out, then for the 0800 number for the Taupo i-site to call when I came back from the walk in the afternoon. Read more…

GPS Tracks, New Zealand, Tramping, Travel Planning

38. Whanganui Bay – Track End – Wairoa – Waipawa

Friday, March 20: Cold at night (down to 5°), variably cloudy in the mountains, fine and warm on the coast

Tramping: Waikaremoana Great Walk, Whanganui Bay – Track End (water taxi landing), 2.2 km

River’s Edge Holiday Park, 26 Harker St, Waipawa 4210, tel.: +64 6 857 8976, double cabin ($35)

I had slept in periods of about 100 minutes a piece with waking in between and was finished with sleeping by about 7:00 when it had reached 5°, which was the limit for sleeping in the thermal underwear, sox & turtle necked sweater. Breakfast was quickly dealt with as was the last part of the track – all of about 40 minutes, so the whole thing could be done in two days if you could get a water taxi to pick you up at 6:00.

Morning over Waikaremoana
Morning over Waikaremoana, just before the water taxi landing area (snapshot panorama)
Read more…

New Zealand, Travel Planning

34. Gisborne

Monday, March 16: Moderately strong rain and somewhat windy as cyclone Pam moved south to the east of New Zealand

Ethel’s

Pam arrived during the night and by the time I was up it was clear that nothing would be on the agenda today except for sitting in front of the computer. Ethel’s breakfast was peaches and cereal, then toast, and of course, coffee. Then it was time to transcribe the diary. Read more…