Jim & Barbara Burton Travel: Turangi

Turangi – Lake Taupo

After leaving Amora Lake Resort we traveled south towards Lake Taupo. On the way we stopped for coffee at Lava Glass Café where renowned Glass Blower, Lyndon Over has his studio. The glass art here is incredible and the designs reflect the topography of the surrounding areas. From here our next stop shortly afterwards was at Huka Falls. The roar of water gushing through the gorge was almost deafening.

We arrived at Kaimanawa lodge early and as we were too early to check in we went down to a quiet part of the lake and had our picnic lunch. From here we went and bought some groceries in the small town of Turangi, small in stature but magnanimous for Trout Fishing. The Tongariro River is a top world-class river. They fish for Rainbow and Brown Trout all of which seem to be enormous. The taxidermists here seem to be constantly busy. The Tongariro River and its valley are incredibly beautiful. It is total peace and serenity.

On Saturday, we attended an orientation session at Kaimanwa Lodge, hosted by Jim and his wife Rae, managers of the facility. Jim does the talking and Rae baked the most delicious scones. After our orientation Jim and I decided to hike the Tongariro River Trail. We thought Jim said that it was an hour and a half round trip to the Red Hutt Bridge. After walking for miles, meeting only cows, sheep, birds and a few fisher-people, sheltering for a while from a hail storm we reached the Red Hutt Bridge – 2 hours after our departure time. Hence, we now had and hour and a half to tramp back to the Major Jones Bridge from whence we began. We couldn’t find the trail and decided on the one marked for anglers. Needless to say after about twenty minutes of very long grass, brambles and other pokey vegetation we came to a dead end. Therefore, we tramped back. Finally we found the newly opened trail and arrived back over four hours later. However, it was well worth it. The scenery was phenomenal and the air so fresh and invigorating.

Our other pursuits while staying here included circumnavigating Lake Taupo on a beautiful day resulting in stunning photographs. Similarly, the day we chose to drive through the National Park taking in the ski hills, volcanoes, deserts and more. The deserts are very similar to those around Palm Desert, USA. We also stopped at a sacred Maori site called Opataka, on Lake Rotoaira, which was very interesting.

On Tuesday we went for another long drive, through another large gorged to Hastings and Napier. Hastings is a really nice town, somewhat quirky, which we liked immensely. Napier was very art deco. It had a lovely beach, which as you can see was soooo…… busy. Note the flower clock which had just been newly planted, hence not in its full glory. Jim also found a new girlfriend there, one who didn’t answer back. Shame she was cemented to the ground…….

On Wednesday we attended the dinner for guests, cooked by Rae, which was absolutely delicious and great company at the table. We all shared the experiences of our various trips, which is a great way on deciding what to do and what not to do.

On Thursday we took a trip into the Kaimanawa Forest Park visiting both The Pillars of Hercules and Tree Trunk Gorge, see photos. Not a soul in sight anywhere.

We left early on Friday for our long drive to Wellington. Windy, windy Wellington…………….