Whakatani was smaller than expected, but it was a nice place. I had decided we should try and get to our next destination by the next day and our White Island tour lasted two hours longer than we were told, so as soon as we got off the boat from White Island, about 4pm, we took off.
It was during this stage that i realized how fast people drive in New Zealand. The road was very narrow compared to US roads, with no shoulders, cliffs that came right down to the asphalt and constant tight turns. It was actually an exciting drive, and the only reason i wasn't enjoying it was that i was still getting used to driving on the wrong side of the road and operating a manual transmission with my left hand. It felt as awkward as trying to throw a ball with the wrong arm. Anyway, people kept tailgating me, even though i was speeding. At one point i was driving so fast that the little Toyota we were in reached that point where the tires are just beginning to lose traction around the curves, but the guy behind me was STILL right on my bumper! So i had to admit the inadequacy of my vehicle and find somewhere to let him pass (there was no passing on most of the road).
This is the first view you have of Taupo. At first it reminded me of Idaho.
We drove as far as we could through the available daylight with the goal of making it at least to this place called Rotorua. We made it that far with another two hours of daylight to spare. I didn’t like the look or the feel of the place, so we continued on. We did stop to eat at the biggest, most posh McDonalds i've ever been in (solely because it was fast) It was open air too, and full of birds flying around and landing on your table to try and snag fries.
We stayed at the Anchorage Inn, solely because of the name. Ironically, it was the best hotel room that we had during our entire vacation.
The back parking lot of the hotel had terraced fences made out of fern trees. I hear they have stuff like this in Hawaii, but i've never been there or seen anything like that.
Leaving that town the roads became almost completely empty, and we made excellent time until just before sunset when we arrived at a place called Taupo. It was a very relaxing town on the shore of huge Lake Taupo. The lake is a gigantic caldera, the biggest lake in the country at 25 miles long and 18 miles wide (40 x 30 kilometers). I didn't realize how big, because what i thought was the whole lake was just a little bay area where the town was centered. It took an hour to drive down the length of it the next day.
The next day looking north from the southern end of the lake just as we were leaving the region. Notice how all the cinder cones are kind of in a straight line. The town of Taupo is at the far end where the most distant cinder cone (right of center) on the horizon is visible.
