So true to form, today we are booked on a boat cruise out to the Maori rock carvings and when we got up this morning it was raining! But we have the right clothes so we set off hoping for the best and it did actually clear on the way to the boat. We went to the tourist information in town on the way down, but to be honest I think this is an area where you are either on the water or looking at it so we pretty much have all the information already. It was still a bit overcast on the way to the carvings so unfortunately we couldn’t see the volcanic peaks at the other end of the lake but all the same it was nice, we went on the top deck and for most of the trip there was only us and another couple from Australia so we were given loads of useful information as we went round, for example the water is 1 degree warmer in the sheltered part of the lake and the houses that have great views down the length of the lake although exposed to the prevailing wind and therefore chilly are actually on the fault line so most have natural underfloor heating! The lake is actually larger than the Isle of Wight as it is 19 miles wide and 25 miles long or as the skipper said he used to say, bigger than Singapore, but he said he has stopped saying this as he isn’t sure if it is true anymore since they have been reclaiming land. The rock carvings are relatively recent and not very representative of Maori culture as they don’t actually carve in rock only wood, however the story behind them is interesting so worth a visit. Te Huatahi Susie Gilbert of Ngati Tuwharetoa asked her grandson Matahi Whakataka Brightwell to create a likeness of her ancestor Ngatoroirangi on a totara tree to create a permanent connection for her family to the land. When Matahi arrived in Taupo, there was no totara tree to carve, so he journeyed onto the lake for inspiration. The rock alcove at Mine Bay became the canvas, surrounded by smaller sculptures depicting tupuna (ancestors) and kaitiaki (guardians) the carving is 14 metres high on a rather inaccessible part of Lake Taupo. On the way out to the carvings we fed the ducks, not at water level, but they flew alongside us and we held bits of bread out of the window and they took it from our hands, defiantly not something I have seen before and to be honest I didn’t realise ducks could fly that fast as we were traveling at 18 knots! The lake looks very deep and apparently is full of trout which was introduced in the late 1800’s it has never been restocked and now on occasion they have to actually cull the population as they don’t have any natural predators. Apparently the only trout you can eat in New Zealand are ones you have caught as it is illegal to buy or sell trout in shops or restaurants. We got back to the jetty at 12.00 and went back to the apartment for lunch. Yesterday when we were on the Huka jet ride the driver had mentioned that the dam gates are opened 4 times a day to allow the lake water to flow out and also to recreate the rapids that the dam had stopped so as they do this at 2pm after lunch we drove round to the bottom bridge to see this. I am not sure about Chris but I had thought that as they opened the gates we would see a tidal wave, but this wasn’t the case, it was a gradual rising of the water level, it was fascinating to watch the water start flowing faster. The gates were left open for 15 minutes then slowly the water started receding again. Next we drove round to Huka falls to see them from the top rather than the bottom. They actually don’t look as tall from the road, we stopped at the view point before driving down to the falls. As we pulled up into the car park at the falls it started spitting with rain but not too bad so we walked down towards the falls and you actually walk across the inlet to the falls which give you a really good idea of how fast they are flowing. We walked down to the face of the falls then headed back to the car to go to Wairakei Terraces which is an outdoor thermal pool, not that we went for a swim in the rain, but if you drive past them and go to the top of the hill there is a fantastic view of the geothermal power plant, since the 50’s they have actually been using the natural hot pools and the steam that is generated to make electricity. They bore holes into the hot wells and pipe the steam to drive the turbines that create the power, they have dug more than 200 wells to harvest this power although it does look like a lot of steam is escaping I am sure they know what they are doing. Because we had enjoyed watching the dam so much we went back to watch the final opening of the day (in summer they do it 4 times a day) but this time we went to the mid-point viewing platform which was really different as you could see the water start to flow through and the top pools fill up and then overflow to create the rapids. Then it was time to head back to the apartment to pack up ready to move on to tomorrow and head out for something to eat.
