Taupo

Another weekend of travel and fun filled adventure.  This one was a regular 2 day weekend, so we headed Southeast to Taupo, which is a tourist town set along a large lake.  There were lots of bicycle riders on the highways and signs about giving them enough room when you pass.  There is a bicycle ride coming up going around Lake Taupo.  It reminded me of a more country version of Lake Union.

On Saturday, after we checked into the hotel, we headed out to Lilliput Farms where we were able to pet and feed lots of different animals.  I took lots of videos of this experience because the sounds of the animals up close were just as new and interesting as the look and feel of them.

 

We ate lunch at the Taupo "Macca" where you can sit in a real converted airplane to eat.

 

Lake Taupo was a short walk down a path from our motel, but some of the dearly departed in Taupo also have beach views.

To end Saturday, the kids were almost lost amidst bubbles and jets.  The Cottage Mews Motel was very nice and quite reasonably priced.  Our room was two-storied with a full kitchen, chairs, a TV, 2 twin beds, a table, a bathroom and a private outdoor patio on the first floor and upstairs held a queen bed, patio with chairs, TV, bathroom and the loveliness that is pictured below.

Today (Sunday), we viewed Huka Falls, a waterfall, which is reported to be so fast and long that it can fill 2 Olympic sized swimming pools each second.

Then, we went prawn fishing at the Huka Prawn Park, where the restaurant cooked out prawns for us free.  The kids took a tiny bite each (under duress) and proclaimed they did NOT like prawns and as a vegetarian, this benefit was a little lost on us.  However, the park had a lot of other kid and family friendly things to do also. 

On Sunday, we also went to Puzzle World where we saw a really large and interesting Lego display and a collection of holographic pictures as well as trying out several puzzles and games laid out on the tables.  Among the activities there that we didn't try were remote control boats, a maze, a drum set, shooting gallery, and mini-golf.

Our last stop in Taupo was a Honey Mill where the kids had honey ice cream and I had a square of latte fudge (yum) and brought home a jar of apricot honey and plain honey to make peanut butter and honey sandwiches.

As always, the views are amazing on these long drives and I suspect that part of my motivation for doing these trips is to take in the scenery.