Lake Taupo

The music festival "Boardies and Bikinins" was a blast. We pitched our tent and brought body paint!!! Our group of friends had designs all over their faces, legs, backs, arms, etc. The location was great with the beach on the other side of the hill. The crowd was dancing all night to genres like electronic, DJ, Dub Step, Drum Bass, House. It was our first NZ Festival and well worth it!!!

We also caught the Superbowl a few days later at our friends house (Superbowl Monday in NZ since we're a day ahead). Only 3 of us wanted the Saints to win. My two friends Ollie (Sweden), Ollie (UK) and I. They really had no idea what was going on but Ollie (UK) ended up winning $20 off the game! The commercials were awful!!! It was sad not being able to see what Budweiser, Coke, etc decided to spend their millions on for 30 seconds of airtime. Must be the marketer in me that enjoys the commercials better then the game....kinda haha! We did catch the halftime Who performance, but the sound and picture didn't match up. Oh well!!

It was sad leaving our friends behind in Raglan but it was time to see more of this beautiful country!! We are currently in Taupo (Lake Taupo).
**An interesting fact we learned on the way here was that Flip Flops ( known as Jandles in NZ, Japense Sandles) were founded in New Zealand in 1957......the rubber ones that is!

Lake Taupo is the largest fresh water lake in all Oceanic countries. You could put Singapore inside of it and water would still surround the country. It is a very lush environment with mountains in the skyline. Taupo, pronounced TOEPAW, is known for its lake, skydiving, waterfalls, hot springs, skiing and mountain hiking.

Today we hiked along the Waikato river. The color was unlike anything I'd seen before. It was a green/blue color but clear so that you could see the river bottom from the trails above. The Waikato River incorporates a famous waterfall called Huka Falls. Huka is not a high waterfall like Multnomah, but rather a narrow shoot channeling the water out. Every second that water pours out is equivalent to 160 baby elephants coming down. After checking out the falls we went to The Honey Hive where we had free honey tasting (yes dad I thought of you). It was a long day of hiking (about 4 hours) and it ended with a soak in the natural hot pools.

On Monday we are hiking the Tongariro Crossing!! It has been voted as one of the top 10 day hikes in the world. It will take us about 7 hours to complete. For all you Lord of the Ring nuts, we hike over Mt. Doom.

Some new words to spice up the American Lingo:

Boardies = Swim Trunks
Torch = Flashlight
Jandals= Flip Flops
Choice Bro = Awesome
Sweet As = nice
Mate = friend
Walkabout = roamin around
Bottlo = Liquor Store
Petrol = Gas Station
Rubbish = Trash Can
Mega = Super
Mental = Crazy
Wop Wops = Middle of nowhere
Yeah Couzzie = Fo Sure
Proper = Very