April 5: Tongariro to Taupo

Previously: April 4

Today was to be mostly a travel day. Doug, who’d helped us with our car problems earlier, was on duty in the morning. When we asked about the possibility of getting a French press so we could make our own coffee, rather than using the instant coffee that came with the room, he offered to bring one to us as soon as the staffer who was using it was done with it. Which he did, and made good coffee—with the footnote that since every place we’ve stayed has had a different, non-standard, spoon size, there was quite a bit of “by guess and by God” in estimating the amount of grounds to use.

When I brought the press back to him after breakfast, I found him weaving strips of New Zealand flax into a mat. Turns out he’s working on teaching himself weaving so he can make his wife a shopping basket. Though he’s about my size, he’s muscled like an athlete, and looks like he could tackle any rugby player and be the one to walk away from the collision. But he’s got this amazing shy grin and self-deprecating manner that suggests he’s really more of a pussycat. Very cute.

We bid a fond farewall to Tongariro, and I’d be happy to return some day and do the crossing again. Maybe in a couple years when we accumulate enough air miles to pay for business or first class tickets so the trip won’t be quite so exhausting. And it will require ongoing training, possibly at higher intensity, to make it easier on the body.

The city of Taupo is a little over an hour from Tongariro. It’s an easy drive, though with the usual winding mountain roads. As usual, I pulled over a couple times to let the cars that had accumulated behind me pass. It’s not that I’m a slowpoke or anything; I just tend to follow the speed limit carefully, and back off on the accelerator when the curves grow sharp and I can't see what lies around the corner. New Zealanders tend to be speedier, and with better cars than the one we’re renting, it’s probably safer for them than it would be for us. Even so, there's a certain carefree attitude about speed that doesn't fit well with my way of driving.

The first time we saw Lake Taupo, during our descent from the transalpine crossing a couple days ago, the lake was so large that I couldn’t see the far shore and thought we were seeing the sea coast—not visible from where we were, despite our elevation. The lake turns out to be an ancient caldera that covers 616 square km (about 240 square miles), which is about two orders of magnitude larger than the Kilaueia crater on Hawaii’s big island, which seems enormous enough when you're sitting in it. During Taupo’s biggest eruption, about 26 thousand years ago, it ejected 1100 cubic kilometres of ash. That’s equivalent to an area 10 km long by 11 km wide by 10 km deep (equivalent to a cube a round 6 miles on a side). Volcanos get remarkably big sometimes.

While in Taupo, we'll be staying at the Haka Lodge hostel. We arrived at the hostel around 11, which was several hours before our room would be ready, so we checked in, left our bags in the storage room, and went to the common room to check e-mail and update our blogs. The staff promised to try to get our room ready first thing, possibly by 1, so when that time was approaching, I started our laundry, then fetched our bags to the room.

After we’d dumped the bags, we wandered into town, a walk of 10 or 15 minutes, to check out the local museum. It’s tiny (only four rooms), but has a nice partial wharenui (“big house”), typically used for meetings. We’d already seen one at Waitangi earlier in our trip, and this one was similar in design and characteristics (i.e., vertical posts carved in the likeness of ancestors, beautifully woven matting in between), though because of space limitations, it was only small building rather than a full-sized model. There were also a couple of small but well-crafted exhibits. The first one is from the pakeha (European) perspective, and both describes the region's volcanic history and tells of Taupo's days as a frontier town and major logging center. The second one is smaller, but tells a bit about Maori culture (particularly hunting and provisioning) and has some nice artefacts, including some beautiful weaving and some finely crafted hand weapons.

From the museum, we walked through a pretty little park and along the water. Our weather blessings continued, as despite the 50% predicted chance of rain, we saw nary a drop. Dinner was at the Dixie Jones restaurant, which an Estonian colleague had recommended. Shoshanna had perfectly cooked calamari (very tender, rather than the usual rubbery texture) with a fiery aioli similar to a tartar sauce except for the heat, washed down with a Moa lager (a bit bitter in its finish on first taste, but it rather grows on one after a few sips); I had perfectly cooked lamb shank on a bed of dreamy garlic mashed potatoes, with rich dark gravy, accompanied by a Tui lager, by the Tui Brewing Company. Nice reddish-gold color with a simple, clean, unpretentious taste that didn't try to overpower the lamb. Desert was a banana chocolate chip milkshake, very nicely done, with a distinct banana taste that is often missing from such shakes.

Tomorrow, for our only full day in Taupo, our plan is to drive up to three local hydrothermal areas, with lots of hot springs and small geysers.

Next installment: April 6