Taupo

From Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland we continued along SH5 to Taupo. The town is situated on the northern side of Lake Taupo. As we needed to be back in Tauranga that evening we decided to have lunch overlooking the lake and a quick look around before heading back along SH 1 through Tokoroa and Putaruru then turning of the highway to cross the Kaimai Range back to Tauranga. Lake Taupo is a major tourist destination offering many activities including parasailing, jet boat rides, trout fishing.

Taupo and Lake Taupo (Taupomoana)

Very pleasant down by the lake

One of the attractions was this golf hole in one. If you got a hole in one on the pontoon you would win $10,000. This chap gave it a good go and was landing on the pontoon on many occasions,  but walked away empty handed.

Other activities on the lake included parasailing

After lunch we headed out from Taupo onto SH1. This was a bit of a change in pace as had to contend with a lot more traffic and some B-doubles as this is the main highway to travel connecting the north and south. We hadn't traveled this way before so was nice to take in the scenery and travel through some different towns. All was going nicely until we passed through Tokora and about 5km north of town we encountered a traffic hold up. As it turned out there had been a serious accident on the highway and traffic was being diverted through a side road. Even though the delay made it a little later getting back we did get to see some more country side and made it to the Kaimai lookout just before sunset.

View from lookout as we crossed Kaimai Range