While we waited for the Department of Conservation to give the O.K. on hiking the Tongariro Alpine Crossing without a guide, we decided to spend the day at Lake Taupo.

I would say Taupo is the Queenstown of the North Island. There is a beautiful lake, plenty of water and adventure sports, amazing volcanic scenery and lots of tourists. Sean and I decided to visit Huka Falls and then hike to a dam about two hours away. We had heard that the dam opened a few times a day and that you could see water rush from one side to the other filling an empty riverbed. Picture your average sand and water table in geology class and that was what we were going to witness full-size and in real time. As you can imagine, we could barely contain ourselves. So we packed up some sammies and drove the two hours from Raurimu in the National Park to Lake Taupo.

Huka falls was beautiful mostly because of the color of the water and the enormity of the amount of water that rushed over the rocks every second. The hike was less scenic but it felt good to be out and stretching our legs after days in a canoe.

We made it to the dam with plenty of time to spare and joined the other eager observers who were more prepared than us and had brought containers of cold beverages along with them in order to watch the 'action' unfold. We heard loud warning bells five minutes, two minutes and then again as the dam opened to let the water force its way through. I thought the thrill of the water rushing through the riverbed would be instantaneous but it actually took quite awhile for the quantity of water to build and make its way through to where we were watching. I think the anticipation was the best part of the whole thing and I was sad when it was over as it meant we had four more hours of hiking and driving ahead of us. We did, of course, make lots of dam puns and jokes on the way home; it's inevitable.

 

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