Taupo is not quite as fun-filled or interesting as Rotorua, but it's a peaceful lakeside town that is probably a popular getaway for older folks or families or wholesome types like that. What IS a NZ must-see is the alpine landscape of the Tongariro Crossing, and the best spot to stay in order to reach that is Taupo. (Sorry, the crossing needs its own entry though, so don't expect that here.)
That being said, I spent five whole nights in Taupo with Kiwi Experience! There are a few stops on the itinerary where they build in an extra night for you, and Taupo is one of those due to the Tongariro Crossing. However, that week also happened to be Christmas, so we stayed for two days following the hike to relax and celebrate the holidays backpacker-style (aka with games, Skype sessions to home, and lots of booze).
My second time in Taupo was only two days long and that was to force Lewis into a bungee as payback for making me do the 19.4k freaking Tongariro Crossing again.
Taupo Hostels
I loved the Taupo Urban Retreat where I stayed over the holidays with my Kiwi Ex group! Of course it was a Nomads hostel, the best chain. It had wooden decor, a bar next to the dining area, and an outdoor courtyard. I chose the 16 bed dorm which may sound crowded, but it felt so much more spacious than the cramped 4 bed dorms and the like. It was a loft on the second floor that took up about half the building with the walls slanting to the roof, and there was a ton of space next to and between the bunks.
The second time I went, we stayed at Rainbow Lodge which was a cute little place. We had a basic private room (communal bathrooms down the hall but individual rooms) and there was a wooden front porch, hostel dogs, and a lounge with tons of couches.
Hot Pools, Waterfalls, Rivers, the Lake...
One thing Taupo is very good for is water of all kinds. Just driving into Taupo you can pass by Huka Falls, a very blue rushing river and waterfall.
Once you're in the center of Taupo, there is of course Lake Taupo. We got conned into spending money on this sailboat ride the first night there with Kiwi Experience. It was all very driven by fear of missing out, and since everyone else was going on this BYOB party sailing experience, I felt like I had to.
It pretty much sucked. We were given these huge black coats (or more like... blankets with hoods?) which were totally necessary because it was windy and wet the entire time. We had some beers and were meant to go all the way out to some Maori rock carvings, but the sea was too choppy and we couldn't even make it. So basically, we rocked around in this sailboat, a few crazies jumped off to go for a swim, and we watched music videos projected onto the sails on the way back. There was not enough space to party, we couldn't have kept our balance if we did anyway, and we probably would have had a better time at the hostel.
Then there are the Taupo hot springs. You know by now that NZ has plenty of geothermal activity and whatnot, and there is a river in Taupo with some hot spots. The main problem was finding a spot that wasn't scalding. You could burn yourself sitting in one area and then move about two inches and be in cold water. It's like when you get a terrible shower with a separate knob for heat and cold and just can't get the temperature to be anything nice.
I feel like I'm not making this sound very appealing so far, so let's skip ahead to...
Taupo Bungee!
By this point (on my second trip to Taupo), I had already done my first bungee jump down in Queenstown. That one was 134m (440 ft), so the Taupo bungee at only 47 meters (154 ft) seemed like no big deal. This one was (of course) over the Waikato River and it was very pretty.
I just kind of thought it would be cool to do a tandem bungee jump. Lewis did not think it was so cool. He'd never done a bungee before and felt no desire to whatsoever. I signed us up.
The jump was off a little platform above the river. The drop did look quite a lot longer from up there. I've never seen Lewis look so nervous. He was barely speaking. I tried to reassure him while they were hooking up our harnesses and ropes, but he wouldn't even look at me, quite possibly because I was responsible for making him leap off a platform with nothing but a glorified rubber band keeping him alive.
Note Lewis's expression.
One thing that did make me a little nervous was the water-touch option, so I opted out of that. Basically, you can choose how far you drop so that you can either fully submerge your body in the river or just lightly touch the water. I didn't really want to be anywhere near the water since in my mind hitting the water after a long drop would be like hitting pavement, and in fact there are people who come away from water touch bungees with black eyes and whatnot if they turn their face the wrong way, so I asked if we could just pull back up a few feet higher.
Well... maybe it would have been better if we didn't? We went to the edge, counted down, and jumped. Compared to the Nevis in Queenstown, the drop felt very short, and the pull back was so abrupt that I felt rattled by it. Lewis had grabbed me and hugged me before we even hit the bounce, and then going back down for the second bounce was kind of a blur. My leg hit the rope, and I just felt pain and rubber dragging along my right calf. I knew something wasn't right, but it was over too quickly to get my head around it.
A boat came down in the river to pick us up as we lightly bounced back up and down a few more times. I grabbed the pole they were offering us, and they pulled us down and detached us from the cord. Lewis was still not saying a word despite the fact that he was clearly still alive, and I was starting to become slightly concerned about him. No more bungees for Lewis.
I told the staff that my leg had caught on the rope, and they brought us back to shore where we took a staircase to the lobby. Walking was uncomfortable and the pain was getting worse. We took a look at my leg back in the lobby, and it was all scratched and starting to swell and bruise. The girl asked if I wanted to see their "doctor" who wasn't really a doctor but went and sat down with me to give me some ice packs and ask questions. He told me it didn't look like such a bad injury compared to others he's seen, which isn't a very reassuring thing to hear if you were still considering the Taupo bungee at this point. He told me to rest the remainder of the day and that he'd call tomorrow to see how I was doing (which, to his credit, he actually did).
So here's where I think the staff went wrong! We went back up to buy our photos and video, and ONLY THEN did the girl there say they had all been really worried about us for a second because on the first bounce back up we had actually flipped BETWEEN the two ropes used for the tandem and if we hadn't fully flown through them like we did then it could have gone very, very badly. That's why my leg caught the rope. What I don't understand is why nobody said a word to us about what happened until we went to purchase something! At least then she acknowledged that they'd injured me and so she gave me our photos and video for free.
To be fair, all it really took for me to forgive the company for bodily injury was free stuff, so whatever.
I did limp for the rest of the day, and the pain slowly built in my leg until I couldn't even finish a shopping trip at the Pak n Save that evening, so we spent the night in the room with an ice pack on my leg. I was mostly concerned because we were doing the Tongariro Crossing tomorrow, which, as I've mentioned, is about 12 miles long and not an easy hike, but thankfully I was able to push through and heal well enough to get it done.
So I'm making Taupo sound highly unpleasant so far! Maybe the bungee wasn't the best choice of follow-up topic... Let's try something else.
Christmas
After spending Christmas Eve stocking up on alcohol, doing shots at the bar, and then going to church (it's not really Christmas Eve mass if you aren't tipsy), we woke up for a nice and chilled out Christmas at Taupo Urban Retreat. We had an awesome home-cooked English breakfast, I skyped my family, and then everyone at the hostel plus a couple of our friends staying at Base met up downstairs for a hostel-run Christmas lunch. We had all paid $25 for a big holiday buffet and dessert table including one glass of champagne and free handle of beer each. We also played games like pass the parcel and whatnot to win stuff like free skydives (I would hype that up more if I had actually won anything).
We had a big group full of our friends from Kiwi Ex, and everyone at our table was either English or American. The buffet was pretty great- I had two special veggie dishes (a risotto and a lasagna) plus the kumara, potatoes, bread, green beans, parsnips, and pasta salad from the main buffet.
The dessert table was equally awesome including two gingerbread houses and pavlova with choices of all sorts of berries, kiwi, or chocolate shavings to top it with.
We continued drinking afterwards, made a little trip to the lake to jump in off the rope swing (I may or may not have ditched my clothes), came back, continued drinking, destroyed the leftovers, and played some beer pong. It wasn't the worst Christmas ever!
Bonus: River Valley
We woke up hungover and barely conscious on Boxing Day, but we had to get the Kiwi Ex bus down to River Valley. It was a short overnight stop, and there's no reason to spend any extra time there as it is literally just a big lodge in the middle of the wilderness. The optional activities in the area were horseback riding and whitewater rafting, but we were at the second last stop of the North Island and most of us were broke.
It was actually a really nice and chilled out day. Good recovery time. The lodge was nice and homey with a rustic feel. The bathrooms and kitchens were in separate buildings out back, the rooms were up the stairs with a balcony looking down on the large common area, and our driver referred to the bedrooms as the "orgy rooms" because there were no separate beds. Each side of the room had one long wooden bunk with two levels, and all of the mattresses were just lined up next to each other.
Our Boxing Day consisted of chess, napping, and jigsaw puzzles. We took a walk outside in the evening to see the river next to the lodge. There was a shoddy little wooden platform hanging off a manual pulley to cross it, so we traveled in small groups to the other side to explore. We took a short walk to the waterfall before turning back.
That night, we all gathered a bunch of pillows and blankets onto the top bunk in the empty room and watched Lord of the Rings.
How cute was our little group though actually?! I mean, pretty adorable.
It was kind of a goodbye to our North Island crew really, because we were off to the capital Wellington the next day. There our group fractured, and we all went to different hostels. Some of us continued on to the South Island after a day, some of us stayed in Wellington over New Year's, and some of us (me) accidentally ended up living in Wellington for the next year and a half. I don't quite think I'm ready to tackle that entry yet, and besides, I still have to tell you all about the Tongariro Crossing. Disregarding bungee jumping injuries and cold sailboat rides, I did say Taupo was worthwhile for this reason, so I'll give you the full rundown next time.
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