Waitomo, Taupo & Raw Power 

Sometimes you have to do something illogical to make the most of things when travelling, and so it is as we leave Rotorua to head to our next destination, Taupo, via a somewhat staggered route. The most direct route would be less than 100km but a detour west is the only way we can take in something which we want to see, so we dogleg our way across to Waitomo and then back across to our next base.

What attracts us to Waitomo is the cave network in the hillside which is home to a particular species of glow worm, the arachnocampa luminosa, and seeing them turns out to be well worth the detour. The vast cave which is the entrance to the tour is fascinating even before we board the tiny boat on the pitch dark waterway deep underground, stalactites and stalagmites forming weird sculptures all around us. Once on board the little boat in pitch darkness, the sight of hundreds of tiny lights on the ceiling of the cave is mesmerising, like an subterranean starlit sky.

Not actually a worm but the lava of a tiny gnat, these odd creatures are endemic to New Zealand, and produce the speck of light in order to attract prey, small insects which will be drawn to the light. Hanging beneath each “worm” is a set of sticky lines, like the tentacles of a jellyfish, to which prey will stick if and when they fly too close. The worm will then suck up the strand rather like someone eating spaghetti, consume the unsuspecting critter and then drop the line down again, looking for more. They live in this lava form for around nine months before morphing into the gnat which they will then become.

But by the time these things become a gnat, they’ve pretty much lived their life. Once out of the lava stage and into the air, they have no mouth and no stomach and are therefore incapable of feeding – they live for about three days and then die of starvation. During these three days their sole raison d’être is reproduction. Isn’t nature endlessly enthralling? We have no photos of the glow worms of course, it’s pitch dark down there and as you would expect flash photography is not allowed. 

Waitomo cave and a resident eel

(SIDE NOTE…Before we enter the cave proper we are told to put everything securely away, partly to keep it safe and partly to avoid creating any sound or light in this precious place – yet one young girl in our group has to be told FIVE TIMES by our guide Cory to stop using her phone. The guide is seriously unimpressed. I despair of people these days sometimes).

And so, visit complete, we head back east through rolling countryside where the green hills are strangely isolated, separated from each other by areas of pasture, individual hills rather than a continuous range, then on through extensive forestry followed by valleys filled with dairy farms. Throughout the last two hours of the journey we pass through just one single village – Benneydale – the rest is delightful green scenery, sparsely populated but never barren.

We glide eventually into the lakeside town of Taupo on the shores of the lake of the same name, an attractive town geared to the holiday market but today with a surprise welcome as the streets and even our motel car park are full of classic cars attending a charity rally. Surrounded by distant hills, mountains and volcanoes as well as the huge blue lake, Taupo immediatelyy adds itself to the fast growing list of pleasing locations on this journey through North Island.

Classic cars in Taupo

It’s a pretty big lake, too, with a surface area of 238 square miles, a perimeter of 120 miles and a maximum depth of 610 feet, a lake on which the prevailing wind can create waves 2 metres high. Our trip out on to the lake on the sleek sailing boat “Fearless” is absolutely serene, lady luck playing her part and delivering probably the sunniest and most beautiful day so far. After a short time with sails hoisted, the wind drops to virtually nothing and skipper Dave has to revert to motor power, which doesn’t detract in the slightest from what is an excellent and relaxing few hours on the sun kissed water.

The trip takes in some rather special Maori rock carvings and sculptures at Mine Bay, originally a sacred place but now more widely known as a tourist attraction. These creations are certainly not ancient, having been sculpted in the 1970s by leading Maori exponents, but nevertheless are quite spectacular, one of those places where the more you look, the more you see.

Lake Taupo is fed by numerous rivers and streams but has just one outflow, the River Waikato which flows out through Taupo town into the verdant countryside beyond. Alongside the river, the Huka Falls Trail takes an undulating path….

Dappled sunlight filters through the trees to paint blotches of light on the pathway strewn with pine needles, bees weave back and forth across the trail in search of pollen, the strange warbling call of the pied crow sounding like Brian Eno on a creative day throws disembodied sound bites into the mix. Up and down we go, sometimes way above the river, sometimes right alongside, the deep bottle green of the water tossing mini sparklers into the air as droplets of water catch the glare of the sun. The river is deep yet fast flowing, mallards hug the banks to steer clear of the fastest channels. White water begins to appear, a distant rumble gradually becomes a roar, the path rises slightly, and we arrive, suddenly, at the falls….

What we see next is truly startling. Just before the narrow gorge at the Falls the Waikato is 100 metres wide, the entrance to the gorge is a mere 15. The result is an astonishing raging torrent crashing and pounding through the narrow passageway then tumbling over the falls. The surging mass turns first pure white and then an unreal turquoise as ultimately the foam disperses and the river settles back into something approaching normality. A couple of hundred yards of liquid insanity. For a while we can’t tear ourselves away, the raw power, the changing colours, the angry roar, all make for an unforgettable experience of sight and sound. These Falls may not be high – a drop of just 9 metres – but a quarter of a million litres of water surges through here EVERY SECOND. And remember, this river is an outflow from the lake, not a feeder, which gives just a hint of an idea of the volume of the lake as a whole.

A few miles upstream, as if seeing the Huka Falls isn’t enough, there’s another water spectacular. Here, the Waikato is plugged by the Aratiatia Dam, but so huge is the volume of downstream water that the sluices of the dam need to be opened four times a day to regulate the flow, letting more raw power through into the canyon beyond, turning the scene on the left to the one on the right in just a few minutes…..

Such an unusual thing to see, once again we are more than slightly mesmerised by the power and the movement of water. 

Four experiences in quick succession, all of them governed by water, each of them rewarding in their own different way. As we near the end of our last day here in Taupo, the sun still shines on this convivial holiday town as evening approaches, the volcanoes beyond the lake starting to dim as the light begins to fade and here, by the water’s edge, the bars begin to fill with chatter just as the breeze brings natural air conditioning to counter the warmth. Sweaters are pulled over T-shirts, bare shoulders disappear, the occasional jacket is retrieved and donned. The setting sun and the wind off the lake call time on another splendid day.

Another NZ destination, another delight. Time to continue the journey south.