Saturday 13 Sept - Napier to Taupo...

We decided that we would head off to the ski fields at Mt Ruapehu. First we had to drop the dogs at the boarding kennels where they would stay for 3 days! We loaded them into their new travel cage, which would double as their sleeping area whilst they were in the kennels.



They breed Newfoundland's at the kennels, they are huuuge when they stand up!



Then we were off on our 2 hour drive to Taupo the home of New Zealand's largest lake called 'Lake Taupo'. Some interesting facts about Lake Taupo.....

Length 25 nautical miles (46 km)
Width 18 nautical miles
Perimeter 104 nautical miles
Area 60,000 ha (600km²)
Volume 59 km³




After a look around the Lake we headed off to do some touristy things!. First we headed to the Aratiatia Dam, the first of a series of hydroelectric stations on the Waikato River. The dam is opened several times a day to release the build up of water from Lake Aratiatia and creates the Aratiatia Rapids. 90,000 litres are released from the spillway per second when the gates are open.



Then we headed to the Craters of the Moon (but they don't look like moon craters!) There were a couple of mud pools and lots and lots of steam vents. It was a fast 30 mins walk around as we had to head to our next activity.




Then we headed to our prebooked jet boat ride!! which was fantastic. We all got wet which was expected! Thrilling 360° spins at very fast speeds! As the kiwis would say 'awesome'!!





And finally.......... McDonalds Taupo....