Turquoise Twins in Thermal Taupo

(UPDATED!!!)

I'll start by saying, Liza and I are really not pleased that thus far this blog has received ZERO comments. I know you creepy ass stalkers are reading. Would it kill you to say how funny I am and how jealous you are?

Today has been another A+ day. We got up and at 'em early and on our way to Taupo, New Zealand's "Activity Capitol." It's about a four hour drive from Auckland, and it felt like about 2. We busted into the cd stash, randomly drew out KC's contribution, and laughed our butts off that the first song we heard on our official road trip was "Land Down Under." That really applies only to Australia, but we're both curious why they call it that. Please Wikipedia and report back.

We kept our eyes peeled for awesome places to detour and wound up at Candyland. Unfortunately they only do shows on the weekend (where you can make your own lollipops) so we tasted and bought some fudge and other candy, and moved along. We also tried a quick detour to a castle. There were about a hundred directional signs, none of which explained what the castle was, and when we got there we were chased off without a picture. Big middle finger castle.

After arriving in Taupo, we had a quick bite to eat, a quick glass of wine (I mean, it was already 2 p.m.), and then got busy. First stop was Huka Falls, New Zealand's most visited natural destination, which is on the Waikoto River, New Zealand's longest river, which is fed by Lake Taupo, New Zealand's largest lake, (editors note: They freaking LOVE superlatives here. Ex: Candyland was New Zealand's Sweetest Attraction). Took some romantic pictures there before bouncing up the road to the Honey Hive to do some honey and mead tasting. Here we had our photo taken by a six-year-old kid named Rick who was loitering in the parking lot, probably on time out. The picture is quite hilarious because he had to point the camera so far up.

After that excitement, we had our first *real* tramp of the trip, along the Waiareke Thermal Valley Walk. Lots of steam geysers shooting out of the ground (one I put my hand in front of and burned...lesson learned: steam is still hot even when it's coming from the ground). We also were sort of attacked by turkeys (velociraptor turkeys) and Liza got a nice look at some tarantula eggs ("see! you got a walk and a laugh!"). The place where the walk started was some sort of bizarre farm, with chickens with afros, chickens without afros, peacocks, and the aforementioned velociraptor turkeys. It was cool in a scary Avian Flu kind of way.

We wrapped up the day with a dip in some natural thermal pools along the Waikoto. Liza has been obsessed with getting us into some hot water, which is in abundance around this area. Kind of like the catacombs in Italy, I wasn't really sold on it, but it was pretty awesome. All and all a top notch day.

We got gussied up for what promised to be a legendary Tuesday in Taupo. After a couple pints at a prototype Irish Pub, we played some pokies (slots). I choose one called "Gone Fishin," which seemed appropriate, and SURPRISE, did not win a single spin. We hopped over to another place for some bubbles, and about the time we were ready to eat, every kitchen on the strip was closed (at 9 pm! Minus 1 NZed). We tramped into a takeaway place, and after getting our food they told us we had to leave too. So we samarai scarfed down our grub on the patio of another pub, split a last pitcher of beer, and back to bed.

A few notes:
-In addition to KC's cd, we also listened to one from Bobby. I'm sad to report that promising offerings from both E-Roc and Sassypants failed us, and started skipping 2-3 songs in. Probably my fault. Hopefully the rest will be okay. So far Salt-N-Pepa seems to be the crowd favorite, making multiple appearances.

-The whole "we've had a lot to drink and really need food" evening proves yet again that Alco-rexia is a very real problem.

-We spent all day talking about LJ. I can't explain why, but every convo seemed to come back to that beeyotch.

-Liza thinks Burger King has better fries than McDonalds. THis might be the straw that breaks the camel's back. Someone help me out here.

-Our friend Sara Phillips told us about her new outlook on life called "Fear Factoring"...doing things that take you out of your comfort zone (for example: letting two strange but gorgeous Americans stay in your house). We're trying to follow in those footsteps.

Today we are off to Napier on Hawkes Bay, one of the biggest wine regions on the North Island, if not THE biggest. Last nite I turned the page in the guidebook to the list of wineries and literally gasp with glee. We're renting some bikes (hopefully) and getting our wine on. Can't wait.