Up and out of the Haka Hostel, after a brief chat with the owner

We head to Boaster Coffee Roaster for a couple of flat whites, a beef & pickle toasty and a ham & cheese toasty for less than £14, and have a game of ring toss thrown in

Next, we hit PAK’n’SAVE to get supplies and fuel before heading off 68km up to Orakei Korako Geothermal Park & Cave

A bit steep at 48NZD each, but it’s worth it – after a chat with the boat captain, we take the ferry across the lake to get to the active silica flow and take the 2.5km walkway up and meandering around the bush

It takes us past 26 geysers, into 1 of only 2 thermal caves in the world and even spot some native NZ ducks with a litter of 1 day old babies; turns out they can handle the heat here as their internal body temps are actually 44°C degrees.

We see many a cormorant (known here as a Shag) and find out they actually originate in NZ – all 32 species

The area is extremely active still, and there are many escape routes and warnings as you go around!

We take the ferry back and carry on our journey south to the Aratiatia Dam in hopes of seeing the Rapids – this is where they open the dam up a few times a day to create a great flood down the river

Sadly, we miss the rapids, but enjoy the dam and a walk; we find out it’s where they filmed some scenes in The Hobbit too!

10 mins down the road, we park up at Huka Falls lookout and take a walk along the river to get to the falls – it’s very touristy here, which makes sense as it’s apparently the most visited scenic reserve in NZ

We finish up and start our drive down and around Lake Taupo stopping off at Hot Water Beach – a black sand beach that’s heated through geothermal activity – well, a bit of it was hot – there are black swans and cormorants tho!

Continuing the drive, we stop briefly at the Lake Taupo Scenic Lookout – there are some bunnies here too

Finally, we make it to a town on the other side of Lake Taupo, Turangi, where we check into our motel and get straight out for some dinner

The walk into town is about 15 mins down a meandering path – not much happening in the town but we end up at Tūrangi Tavern for some bangers and mash and a spot of wine

It’s rather rammed here as there’s a NZ vs Aus Rugby Championship (formally Tri Nations) match on tonight so we start dinner outside, enjoying the sunset

We move inside, as it’s freezing out, and watch second half of the rugby with a jug of beer – the All Blacks win, of course ????

A gentle stroll back to the motel