After a hour or so drive we arrived at the Huka Falls which is created by the only exit of water from Lake Taupo the Waikato river and is very loud/impressive. The equivalent of enough water to fill 2 olympic swimming pools goes over the approximately 5 meters wide falls every 3 seconds. We watched the Huka Falls jetboat come to within about 15 meters of the falls .Compared to the previous lakes we had seen Taupo was huge and is the crater of a long extinct volcano which, apparently when it blew, threw some one hundred cubic miles of debris into the atmosphere ! The lake is some 35kms long by 25kms wide and is used for all sorts of water activities plus there is a local bungy if you are that way inclined. We were not! Next day we set off to drive to the chairlift at the Tongarairo ski fields stopping to take a short walk to the Kawhai Falls where we watched kayakers launching themselves off a 10 meter drop into the stream below ! Once at the skifields we were disappointed by the chairlift rising into the misty gloom of Tongarairo -much like getting the train up Snowdon- so we didn't bother. We did go on a walk up the ridge from Whakapapa village below and were rewarded by a much clearer view of Mt Ruapehu & Ngaurahoe as well a a clearer view of Tongarairo.
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