OFF TO TAUPO AGAIN

 Stew and I are heading off to Taupo today.

We have a full day tomorrow, both in Taupo and Rotorua, so today we are just gunna have a 'cruisy' day.

There are several cruise operators who take groups out on the lake to view the Maori Rock Carvings, so we have booked a cruise for this afternoon.

It's only a 1.5 hour cruise, not too long.  But it will be lovely I'm sure.  I can't remember the last time I was 'on' Lake Taupo in a boat!

Probably 50+ years.

I'm really looking forward to it.

After the cruise, we are going to some hot pools for a soak.  Won't that be lovely?

ABOVE: There's some pools at Wairakei that we never knew existed, and they look amazing, so yeah, hopefully they are open when we get there.  

*** I just looked on their website and they don't close until 9 pm, so we should be alright.

We are staying in Taupo overnight because tomorrow we are attending the unveiling for a friend of Stew's.

I hadn't read the invitation fully, it said: 'Hats Required'- ... so yesterday I had to quickly doctor my sunhat so I can wear it to the unveiling.  

Right, best stop waffling and get a move on.

10 am. On the road.

Quick stop in Tirau for brunch. Theres a lot of eateries in Tirau. We decided to try ...

ABOVE: The Bakery. Very like Volare. A boutique bakery. There were HEAPS of people in there, a very good sign. And we were not disappointed.  The food was mind blowing! No sit down option... but that was fine by us. We got some amazing food and sat in the car just down the road.

AMAZING FOOD!!!

We are now on our way again.

12.50 pm. In Taupo. Got an itchy back, so we go hunting for a back scratcher. Several hundred  dollars later, we have some Christmas shopping done and .. no back scratcher!

An 'unveiling' is when a headstone has been installed and is unveiled for the first time to family and friends. 

In Maori culture it is done usually after a year from the deceased person passing.  

In this case it's for a European man, and is about 9 months since his passing. Its more of a 'Memorium' in his case.

ABOVE: Pretending to skipper the boat. Lol. Auto pilot was on. We are now being skippered by a 3 year old. For real. He was pointing us into land... lucky the actual skipper just took over.

ABOVE: The boat was lovely. We saw the Maori carvings. Two of the younger passengers jumped in the lake and got out immediately! Time constraints meant they couldn't linger. Too cold as well.

We were given hot blueberry muffins and smoked trout on crackers for afternoon tea. There was a trout fishing demonstration, and we caught a trout. 

It got returned as it was a bit small.

Overall I would highly recommend Chris Jolly Cruises. 

We are now at our motel before going to the hot pools a bit later on.

ABOVE: The pools were just wonderful.  Each of the 4 pools was a slightly different temperature... ranging from 32 c to 40 c. We stayed in them for two hours.

Then we came back into town for dinner at Cobb & Co.

ABOVE: For the first time in forever I had a steak, with prawns and a parmesan sauce. Stew had the same.

Back at our motel now... and that's a wrap for the day. Such a nice day. 😊

NITE NITE