Days 4-6: Rotorua, Taupo, Tongariro & Ohakune

The Skinny if you're just here for the highlights: We drove from Rotorua to Taupō through volcanic landscapes, hiked Rainbow Mountain, soaked in a sulfuric hot spring waterfall creek, unexpectedly had a really lovely, memorable little detour thanks to our Airbnb hosts, Yvonne and Garry, who essentially adopted us for 48 hours. The Tongariro Crossing was repeatedly closed due to weather, so we spent a few days improvising: geothermal parks, waterfalls, hot springs, rainy hikes, slow mornings, and the world’s "coolest" McDonald’s.

Scroll down for pictures.

Rotorua

On the 2.5 hour drive to Rotorua, we passed tons of kiwi and avocado farms. Rotorua runs rich with geothermal activity and deep rooted Māori (New Zealand's native peoples) culture. With this volcanic activity, the relatively robust (though not terribly exciting, from what we could tell) city smelled very strongly of sulfur. There were geothermal steam vents (fumaroles) absolutely everywhere-- in parks and parking lots alike, leaking out heat (and sulfur) from beneath the ground. We had a quick lunch at Third Place Cafe overlooking Lake Rotorua. We drove over to the Green / Blue lakes and lookout point. We wish we knew that there was a waterski club operating out of the glassy Blue Lake; the Green lake is privately owned by Māori people so the best we could do was get a little view from a lookout mound. I would say, you could probably skip these lakes unless you can get a waterski booking and replace with a redwood walk in Rotorua.

Road to Taupō

From here, we started making our way towards Taupō-- just a one hour drive, there were a few things to do on the way. We stopped to hike Rainbow Mountain, which was a perfect little hike at 1200 ft of vertical elevation and about 4 miles. It felt like walking through a rainforest. They have these trees here that look like small palm trees, except the palms are like giant ferns. We had great views of the glacial blue volcanic Lake Ngākoro and the surrounding valley and lakes. Next we drove down the road to Kerosene Creek trailhead and after a short walk arrived at the steamy, sulfuric hot spring creek. We weren't the only people interested in bathing under its warm waterfalls, but the atmosphere was still so serene and quite unique, surrounded by dense dense, mossy, tree-covered hills. Once we had our fill, we drove the final 40 minutes to Taupō. After showering off the creek, we had some delicious curry and naan at Incredible Indian Restaurant for dinner.

For what was supposed to be a one night stay in this summer lake town, we decided to step outside of our comfort zone a bit and chose a 'room in a house' stay with a retired couple, Garry and Yvonne. Their "Superhost" Airbnb listing was filled with praise of wonderful stays and homecooked breakfast. We were a little timid when we first arrived that evening, but by morning, we felt like members of Garry and Yvonne's family. We had originally planned to wake up early and head to the Tongariro National Park to hike the Tongariro Alpine crossing, but due to terrible weather, the crossing was closed, so we pivoted. Yvonne gave us a menu from which we could select our breakfast, and laid out an impressive spread for the two of us while Garry mapped out our day-- literally; he had picked up a giant paper map from the tourist center and drew a route of activity in Taupō. We chatted for several hours over tea before kicking off our day exploring town.

Exploring Taupō

Aratiatia Dam

Garry absolutely insisted that we head to the Aratiatia Dam open at 10AM. We were very skeptical, but figured we would humor him, and it turned out to be really cool. There were short hiking trails leading to a middle and upper lookout, so we walked up to the middle viewpoint just in time to watch the electric blue water flood New Zealand's longest river, the Waikato River-- with so much force, yet simultaneously very gradually. This water travels all the way up (North) to Auckland. And while the dam itself is of course manmade, the landscape it governs was naturally shaped by volcanic forces. Lake Taupō, New Zealand's largest lake, was formed from a caldera-- a volcanic crater that collapsed on itself after a massive eruption, and the river was a natural result of overflowing water. After 10 minutes of watching the river fill out, we walked up to the higher lookout for even better views.

Orakei Korako

Next we drove to the geothermal park about 25 minutes outside of town (towards Rotorua but we ran out of time the day before) to Orakei Korako. There are loads of geothermal parks between Rotorua and Taupō, but we found this one to be the least gimmicky. They took us on a very brief boat ride just across the Waikato river to the park where we enjoyed a 1 hour self-guided walk. It was pretty and quiet. I personally loved the Elephant Rock formation, as well as the Artists Pallet geothermal terrace. We also got to see one of just two geothermal caves in the world (the other is in Italy).

Huka Falls

By late afternoon, we headed back to town to check out Huka Falls. There are several ways you can enjoy Huka Falls and the Waikato River, namely: from above on the walking (or bike) trail; drift toward it on a scenic 1 hour 20 minutes river cruise; get blasted right up to the base on a jet boat (30 minutes); or do a self-guided river float on an innertube-- the local park has entry and exit points along the river, long before the falls. We chose the walking path. For walking (as well as inner tube floating) you park at the Spa Thermal Park and gain the trail just after the riverside cafe. Here you will also find hot springs along the river, well marked with structured entry points. From here, we walked 2 miles each way through rainforest-like greenery to the falls. The river, visible most of the way, was crystal clear river-- we could see giant shelves along the banks, and though we didn't spot any, the river is home to many trout. We also had great mountain views from the path.

The falls themselves were impressive-- such a bright, light blue, true to its name as “Huka” means “foam” (or “froth”) in te reo Māori-- a visual effect of 200,000 liters of water per second forcefully mixing with air on its way down the falls-- enough to fill an Olympic-sized pool every 12 seconds. And still, Sean said with conviction that he thought he could survive a tumble down the falls if thrown in...

Stranded (but not really)

The weather began the day quite rainy, but by the time we walked to the falls the sun started to shine and we saw yet another double rainbow later that afternoon. That evening, we had dinner on Roberts Street with views of the lake, and later walked to check out the "Coolest McDonalds in the World" which included a real, grounded airplane as the dining room. I will admit it was pretty unusual. Later that evening we hung out with Yvonne and Garry, watched some rugby and told them about our day.

So while we had originally planned to stay one short night at Yvonne and Garry's and not see much of Taupō, we ended up having a really nice couple of days getting to know Yvonne, Garry, and the surrounding area while waiting out the weather. Unfortunately, the Tongariro Crossing remained closed due to conditions, and with Wellington also in a state of emergency from flooding, there wasn’t much point in rushing further south.

Somewhere between the tea, breakfast spreads, weather updates, rugby, and life stories, we stopped feeling like Airbnb guests and started feeling more like distant relatives.

With the poor surf forecast and our original plans unraveling a bit, Yvonne and Garry helped us make a plan for the next couple of days: head toward Tongariro National Park for a smaller hike and reassess conditions from there before continuing south.

Tongariro National Park: Taranaki Falls Trek

The Taranaki Falls Trek was a really pleasant surprise! It rained the whole time we were hiking but it was a pleasant sort of rain-- especially with rain pants and jackets. In addition to the impressive Taranaki Falls, we saw two other waterfalls along this lush four mile loop. Though it was cloudy, by the very end we had a small clearing and were able to glimpse of the volcanos we hoped to cross, covered in snow in the distance.

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Ohakune

We stayed at the Snowman Lodge in Ohakune, though we can't say we would recommend it. It was a bit of a lipstick on a pig situation. We will give them credit though for having a Sauna. Dinner at No8 Restaurant & Bar was great.

While it was April 21st in New Zealand, it was April 20 back home, so Happy Birthday Georgie!