Visiting New Zealand's Tongariro National Park plus Huka Falls in North Island.
Whilst on our holiday in New Zealand we spent 4 days staying at Taupo which
is located on the northern edge of Lake Taupo in North Island.
Taupo. The town is quite a major tourist centre and
therefore has loads of accommodation available -
many of the motels give good
views of New Zealand's largest lake - Lake Taupo. There are also supermarkets
and many retail shops as well as a variety of food outlets from fast-food to
proper restaurants.
The Waikato River flows out of the Lake at Taupo and just
outside of the town are the lovely Huka Falls - from around here you can take
several walks including going as far as the Wairakei geothermal power station -
also you can take a jet-boat ride along part of this fast flowing river. Located in
North Island Tongariro National Park is not too far to drive to from Taupo
- the Park is excellent to visit - three active volcanoes, great mountain views - lots of waterfalls and
streams plus a variety of really good long and short walks available.
Huka Falls. The car park for Huka Falls is around 1.5km
north of Taupo on a side road from SH1 - note this car park is closed by use of
barriers at 1800hrs each day.
The rapids are created because the normally very wide Waikato River reaches a
15m wide volcanic ledge causing the water to gush strongly - around 62,000
gallons of water per second are compressed in this way and the resulting views
of the ravine are spectacular. Where the volcanic ledge and ravine ends the
water crashes over the falls into the pool below - there are several viewing
points around here to see it all.
Aratiatia Rapids. Located off the SH5 around 10kms north of
Taupo these rapids are created by the release of water via dam control gates on
the Waikato River. The water crashing through the narrow canyon creates really
spectacular views - there are several view points available from which you can see it all.
There are several walks possible in this area - we did one from Huka Falls to
the Rapids and back - this a nice 14 kilometre walk and generally the path
undulates i.e. no really hard climbs.
The delightful path varies from passing through
semi-tropical forest to open fields and countryside to dark fir woods - most of
the time the wide Waikato River is somewhere alongside but not always visible
because of the often dense foliage.
Tongariro National Park. Located south of Lake Taupo, New Zealand's
Tongariro National Park is a World Heritage Site and encompasses an area of
around 79500 square kilometres. The Park contains three active volcanic
mountains - Mount Tongariro, Mount Ruapehu and Mount Ngauruhoe and was given to
the Nation by Maori Chief Te Heuheu Tukino IV in 1887.
We were staying at Taupo and decided to make the 95km drive to
Whakapapa in the Tongariro National Park so we could see some mountain scenery,
lakes, waterfalls, old lava flows plus have several nice short walks in the process.
Whakapapa has a hotel, quite of lot of accommodation for skiers and backpackers,
good parking and toilets. Also a good cafe which we found sadly closed at
1530hrs - somewhat early really considering the number of people still around.
Tawhia WaterFalls Walk.
A few kilometres after turning onto the Whakapapa Village road you will see a small
parking area on the left and a sign for these waterfalls.
The walk down to them
is very easy as it's on a well made path and only takes a few minutes - however the
falls are very impressive and well worth going too.
Silica Rapids Walk. If you do
this as a loop then the distance is around 7kms - note this involves walking
about 2km along a tarmac road (Bruce Rd) at the end. We did do it this way
because it was the fastest way back and we wanted to also have time to do the
next walk below - ideally though the nicest way would be to go to where the road
can be seen and then just turn round and go back the same way.
The path is clearly marked from where it leaves around 200 metres past the Information
Centre area - you cannot go wrong as there are only a couple of path junctions
on the way all clearly signed. In truth the rapids were not anything
exceptional but as a walk often alongside a busy stream as well as through
woodland and then on out into the open areas it was fine - the feature was the
brilliant views of snow clad Mount Ruapehu and Mount Ngauruhoe.
Taranaki Falls Walk. This 6km
walk was excellent - lots of open countryside, lovely streams, impressive rock
formations, the falls themselves were really good and all the time there were
great views of both Mount Ngauruhoe and Mount Ruapehu.
From the Visitor's Centre turn right up the road and shortly turn right into Ngauruhoe Pl - look for a
signed path a little way up the road on the left. You start off by crossing open
ground and then the path drops down into woodland and reaches a stream. Follow
this stream to a small bridge and then climb up on a rocky path - all this is clearly marked.
The path continues bearing right and then heads along to reach
the really excellent Taranaki Falls. After enjoying the falls continue on the
path as it climbs up to reach a spot where the lava from the last eruption
finally stopped. Continue along through lovely rocks and of course brilliant
views of the two volcanic mountains to end up back at Ngauruhoe Pl.
Our Other Holiday and Travel Web Sites are about the Greek and Canary Islands,
England, Cyprus, Portugal, Singapore, Hong Kong, India and Egypt - Sharm el Sheikh and Luxor. Please see our
Home Page for links to these topics.
www.New-Zealand-Travel-Guide.co.uk
many of the motels give good
views of New Zealand's largest lake - Lake Taupo. There are also supermarkets
and many retail shops as well as a variety of food outlets from fast-food to
proper restaurants.
