Lake Taupo & Huka Falls

After the thermal fun of Rotorua we headed to Lake Taupo and went on a boat ride on the Waikato River (that feeds into lake Taupo) to see the Huka Falls.  The ride was amazing, it was a nice gentle boat with about 20 people on and a very funny and informative guide. He took us up the river from where we boarded, which was right next to the flood gates, which when open create rapids down the other side of the river, which are used by crazy extreme sports people further down the river. We were lucky enough to see these rapids and gates open twice.

Leaving Lake Rotorua in the morning

In the Southern Hemisphere, black swans are the norm, and white ones are a rarity!

Ooooo seaplane!  This reminded me of ducktails - the cartoon we used to watch as kids

The outlet pool for the flood gates...looks so shallow and still now!

The rapids before they get water...

...but then the flood gates open!....

...then they get more water.....

...and more water....and start to look more rapid-like now!

That same outlet pool now looks very full and deep...it overflows and this is what causes the rapids.

The finished result!

The boat we went on to Huka Falls

  

Some BIG trout we saw on the river (this made Johan happy)

Cool!  A geothermal power station that uses the thermal heating of the volcanic region.  There are loads of BIG silver pipes alongisde the roads and randomly in the countryside taking the water/steam to the power plant. This one is quite old now, hence why it looks pants!

Johan at Huka Falls!

Wooosh! Lots of water per second!

A kind passenger took a pic of us.  Thanks!

After the enjoyment of the river we headed to Lake Taupo where we had a motel booked, it wasn't that nice but still seemed to have an excellent tripadvisor rating.  Our main annoyance with it was that the fridge hummed really loudly all night and the bed was not made for Johan and Victoria sized humans.  Otherwise, the spa bath was nice and the view was great, and there were no roaches so we were pleased!

Our room and view over the lake

The view of sunset from our room over the lake.  We had gone to the local 'countdown' (like a tesco in NZ) and got some healthy food for dinner, which Johan made and Victoria very happily consumed!

Lake Taupo is the biggest lake in NZ.  There's some useless trivia for you all!! :)