The thing about a milestone birthdays is that it is even more fun when you share it! Still having a friendship with your school friends means that for a whole year there is always someone else also celebrating their special year of birth.
For our 50th we decided NZ was the place to gather and have a week of celebrating us! I mean, why not, a person can’t have too many reminders of the year you turned 50 right?
Half of us took an extended week or so prior in NZ and the rest of us arrived jumping straight into the all in celebration kicking it off with an actual day of birth 50th for Toni!
We arrived on a red eye flight into Auckland which had some delays on each end to make it the early hours of the morning before we were able to check into our airport accommodation for a few hours sleep. A quick shuttle back the airport in the morning had Melissa and her boys flying the rest of the way and us collecting a hire car to drive to the rendezvous at Lake Taupō.
Sunday
The drive was roughly 3hrs of mostly highway with the last stretch on an alternative route through what seemed like dairy farm central with one farm after another after another stretching out before us in the rolling hills of the North Island. Green, green and more green for the cows to eat and turn into that yummy dairy that my hips do so love ♡ It soon had Wayne curious as to who had more dairy cows, Australia or New Zealand and the answer to that by an astounding lead is NZ by significant difference of over 3 million, nearly 4 times the amount in Australia!!
Our accommodation for the week was Baycrest Thermal Lodge overlooking the lake. You basically had a choice of a room with a thermal heated spa or a room with the view. We chose the view and it did not disappoint! Not 100% certain on the number of rooms (maybe 12?) at the lodge but it wasn’t a massive complex and suited our group nicely. It has a heated pool and a games room which was a great space for us to meet up for a communal BBQ dinner. Of course with 5 of the rooms booked to our group, we did take over a little and not sure where the other guests were supposed to gather 🤣
The birthday kicked off with a walk to the Fox and Hound for a counter meal with the gang. The pub was just like stepping back into the UK and who would complain about that. The food and service was great and we rolled out of there with a quick stop for supplies before heading back to the accommodation for a nap and revitalise before the evening plans got under way.
Jason had us booked, all 11 of us, for a Taupō style degustation style set course tasting extravaganza at The Bistro.
Toni, none the wiser was led by her 13 yr old son on a walking winding tour to get the restaurant which had even those of us that knew where we were going wondering if he was taking us in the right direction! We arrived to an outstanding 6 course meal with the best waitress and the most accommodating host who pushed through to get us to the next activity planned for Toni’s 50th birthday surprises!
A couple of maxi cabs (well, the same driver on two trips) had the group back down to the water front for a show! Via some digging and research I managing to track down a fire twirling entertainer who I arranged to put on a short show to wind up the evening! A great surprise for the birthday girl but also a great way to set the tone for the rest of the week for the group. Cannot recommend these guys enough, they were so easy to deal with, friendly and enthusiastic! Needless to say, their fire bending skills were outstanding! 🔥
Alektra Entertainment
https://www.facebook.com/share/1Dd4sHQkqG/
Monday
Monday was a slow start, catching up on sleep. We all made our own plans for the day, no pressure and easy. For us we went for a little drive around scouting out the lake’s edge for a breakfast spot. We settled on Cafe Baku which set us up for a nice walk along the Esplanade before returning to the room for some much needed catch up on sleep.
Waking up somewhat more refreshed, we headed out to explore and the first place on our list was Huka Falls via a lookout nearby.
The falls are on the only out flowing river from Lake Taupō. According to the locals, the roaring turquoise waterfalls on the Waikato River were on the lower side of the usual water levels. They were impressive regardless. From the carpark you walked a very short walk to a bridge giving you views in both directions and on the otherside you can walk down to see the falls crashing down creating the very aqua blue churning into the lower stretch of the river.
Not far from the falls was the dam wall which has scheduled releases. We headed over for the 2pm release. It drew a crowd for a fairly underwhelming event! We waited, watched and then headed on a short hike downstream to watch the water levels rise and then fall as the release gates closed. If you’re rushing around to try and make this scheduled show, just work it in later or give it a miss, nothing phenomenal to see, but maybe I missed something 🤷♀️
Just another short drive and we arrived at the Craters of the Moon.
https://www.cratersofthemoon.co.nz/
This was a self guided walk around some thermal vents billowing steam. Historically, the site looked alot more moon like before the humans started harvesting power from the thermals in the area. It didn’t take away the other worldly feel of the walk. The walk was mostly boardwalk with some sections of gravel pathways in and around the thermal vents. Easy walking unless you want to hike to the ridge which we did not. We did hike up to the look out which was enough for us. Well worth the $15NZD entry fee.
Back to the room from here for a late lunch, swim, nap, drinks and BBQ catch up with the gang.
Tuesday
Today was a preplanned all in day of activities starting with a tour of Hobbiton Movie Set. We had an Elevenses booking and we caught the tour bus from Matamata information centre about 1.5hr drive from Taupō. The excitement level among the group for this day was palpable, especially for Melissa’s eldest, Heath, who was fully dressed in his Hobbit attire. I might have also been a bit OTT excited bringing along my own home made cloak for the occasion!
The bus ride was 15 minutes at most and was a gentle drive through the rolling green hills that attracted Peter Jackson to this site to set up the scenes for Hobbiton when first filming the Lord of the Rings. Before we could get our heads around the realm we were about to enter, we were there and being led by our enthusiastic guide through the now permanent village of the Hobbitsss. https://www.hobbitontours.com
Without giving everything away, the story goes that post filming, the owner of the land was inundated with Tolkien fans making their pilgrimage even after the set was fully dissembled. When the decision to film The Hobbit came to fruition and the farm was again approached to set up Hobbiton, they came to a deal to set it up in a more permanent state so that the pilgrims had something more substantial to see when they came knocking and of course the tours could be controlled. I suspect, after visiting, farming is now a side line and the tours are the main income stream for the family. We were more than happy to contribute to those earnings as the tour was outstanding!
You are led through various parts of the village where most of the doors, though built with real timbers and other materials (instead of props of styrofoam), lead to nowhere. The guide explains the rudimentary aspects of making full size humans look like short statute hobbits and giant wizards. We wound our way up the hill to Bag End for endless photo opportunities (my phone has was feels like 7 million pictures) where the prearranged elf ears were donned and snapped (except not on the no fun teenager).
The tour back down the hill had us going inside an actually fully decorated very large hobbitholes on Bagshot Row. You were given the choice to go into the home of the Proudfoot family or the Twofoot family. Our group split between and we were all amazed at the size and detail behind the door of each home. Words cannot explain the thrill of stepping into the world of one of my most favourite books. If you know, you know.
Finally the tour led us to the Green Dragon. A choice of a dark beer (Wayne’s choice), lager (for me) or cider was waiting for us. We may have had an extra but no charge for being greedy little elves!
From land of fantasy we drove a short way to find the world’s longest luge. Time to race down the hills around Rotorua.
As seems to happen, the men folk broke away with the teenager, Jack, for the intense racing and gal’s hit the track supporting Melissa who has one kamikaze kid and one who needs a little more encouragement. Fun was had by all with stories of interference, leisurely dinosaur spotting and generally a great time testing the driving skills of the gang. Of course, I let Toni beat me one of the three runs with a litany of excuses for not beating me on my victorious runs 🤣
To run out this very busy day, we made our way 5 minutes up the road to the Mitai Māori Village. Here we were treated to a cultural experience for dinner and show. Cannot recommend enough. We learnt some history, got to experience some traditional song and dance including a very intimidating Haka and best of all dinner cooked in hangi style. So good! By the time we worked though one plate of delicious food and a bowl of yummy dessert, we could not possibly go back for seconds, though you were welcome to return as many times as you like and there was no shortage of food. Before the food coma hit, we decided to skip out early from the final part of the experience and hit the road. Michelle and family stayed for the glow worm and village walk which they reported to be a little treacherous through unlit pathways, but otherwise a nice way to finish the evening.
Just over an hour drive back to Taupō and our heads hit the pillow for instant satisfied slumber.
Wednesday
Today the men and women split to do their own thing so I have nothing to report on where or what the men folk got up to other than it was Glen’s birthday and golf was on the list and when Wayne finally made his way home hanging on to Glen for support, there was a few missing items scattered throughout Taupō!
We however, made our plans sometime ago and the first was a tour chasing waterfalls on the lake with Venture Beyond. Our tour guide, Ian, was excellent and we got the boat to ourselves so the personal aspect of our time on the water was pretty special. We were taken up close in the boat to 2 different waterfalls and the 3rd was a short hike into the rainforest. The final stop of our 2.5hr tour was a nice stretch of lake side beach where the crazy one went for a swim and the rest of us, enjoyed the sun and view comfortably on the bank with a freshly brewed coffee or tea accompanied by Tim Tams (yes, Tim Tams!). We then had a stroll down the beach to a creek flowing into the lake spotting a trout or two before Ian collected us and took us back to harbour. Great tour, best company and a nice way to kick of the day.
From Kinloch harbour we headed back to lunch booking at the Hilton restaurant, Bistro Largo. A nice elevated restaurant looking over the lake with good food and, again, even better company. Melissa especially enjoying her day without the kids who were having their own special day taking part in the local holiday kids activities.
Finally, back to the room for a quick costume change so we could hit the Thermal Spa for a float. We kinda thought there might be a pool side bar with cocktails, but given the heat of the thermals we soon understood the lack thereof. A bloody great day!!
Thursday
Choose your own adventure day! We all decided that by Thursday each group might just want to break off and do their own thing. Wayne and I decided a horse ride was in order. One where we could perhaps go faster than a walk just for something different 🤣
Korohe Horse Treks was booked and we headed around the lake to set off. Wayne, a very accomplished rider and me, a more or less self taught trail rider, chose to take up the Lookout and River trek, fast version. Our self nominated ability level given in the hope of not being put with inexperienced riders and having a little more freedom on the ride. I was a little nervous as to what might be expected of me, given we no longer have horses or ride regularly but decision made and I was about to find out.
As it turned out we were alone on the trek, so a personal guided ride through the family acreage of mostly planted pine forest via a river crossing or two, before climbing up to the ridge of freshly harvested forestry to a spectacular view of Lake Taupō. John, our guide was a great story teller and we learned about the area and the tale of getting his trekking business up and running. All his horses have been drawn from the local wild horses, broken and trained by him and his wife. It was apparent that John loved his job, the land and his horses. It was an absolute pleasure to take the horses out with him for 3 hours.
https://www.explorelaketaupo.co.nz
It goes without saying that my 50 year body is not the same as that of my teenage body, but nothing quite prepared me for the reminder that every muscle is your body is required for galloping through a forest jumping fallen logs horseback. Exhilarating and an epic reminder that you are an unfit 50 year old!! That aside, it was a great ride but even typing this out several days later, I have sore muscles. I’m pretty sure my steed, Waka, knew his rider was not quite ride-fit as we headed slightly closer to tree branches that I would have allowed in my youth.
When we returned to our room back in Taupō, I was very grateful to be able to take myself to the heated pool to soak my aches away.
We reunited with the gang for a game of ten pin bowling where we each shared the stories of our own adventures. Michelle’s crew took a down day, resting, soaking and recovering. Toni’s family hired some mountain bikes and explored the area peddle powered. Melissa and her boys started the day in the air with a short helicopter ride followed by a lake expedition checking out Māori rock carvings and a trout fishing experience. All in all, everyone had a great day. Wayne won the bowling on our lane, Zane and Darcy tied it up on the other.
Friday
Today’s adventure had some of us (read me, Heath and Michelle) a little anxious. It was time for the real genuine New Zealand experience of a jet boat ride.
We, all but 1 seat, booked the boat out to ourselves. We chose our preferred seat and because I wanted to sit next to my husband, I landed front seat middle directly next to the captain and in front of the camera 🫣
Immediately on departure we were thrown into a doughnut setting the scene for the ride to come. First we nipped down river to the dam wall, hugging the bank and throwing a bit of circle work as we went. The g-force was not as outrageous as I had built it up to be in my mind so I could relax a teeny tiny bit. The boat was power by 6.2L inboard jet V8 kicking out 750hp (description provided by Wayne, of course) and it roared back towards the starting point throwing us around and around as we went. At this point, we were told, just for us he would take us on the other half of the ride up to the Huka Falls. We were about to get a new perspective of the falls.
In the same fashion as the first half, we whipped our way along the bank weaving at high speeds in between set poles like a agility dog before reaching the bottom of the falls in no time. Reaching speeds of 85kmph before drawing up short to take in the force of the falls, we were then told he was taking up into the immediate base of the falls. You could definitely feel the force of the water pushing us away and the engine was at full noise to put us on top of the rumbling wake of the falls. He made a few passes like this in between entertaining the people looking from cliff side above. We made it back to base in no time where at the kids requests, multiple doughnuts were repeated before letting us out on solid ground. Great ride and the anxiety was unwarranted for sure.
From here, Melissa decided a snow hunting adventure was on for her and the boys. The rest of hunted out lunch at a local English style pub, The Ploughman. Once again tummies were full.
Wayne and I decided a bit more thermal action was in order after a recommendation from Michelle, we headed to Orakei Korako Geothermal Park.
https://www.orakeikorako.co.nz/
It was not too far away, maybe 30 minutes, that we found ourselves looking at thermal land slide across from a lake. A two minute boat ride from Richard (who has ferried over a million passengers in his time) had us landed on jetty leading onto a walkway through and past bubbling thermal ponds, mud patches and ultimately ending in a large cave. Disappointed that I couldn’t climb down into the cave where the water was pooled green at the base, we turned tail and walked back an alternative route to the jetty where Richard was soon on hand to ferry us back.
Over 6 years prior a good friend of ours had moved to NZ and happened to settle in Taupō. Through much back and forth and ever changing plans we finally settled on a catch up at our accommodation in the poolside room. Great to see him and good to have a cut off via the hotel curfew to avoid the post catch up hangover that would have otherwise ensued!
Saturday
Following in Melissa’s footsteps from the day before, the rest of us hit the road in direction of the snow while Mel headed off in the opposite direction chasing more Hobbit filming sites.
We arrived at Whakapapa base camp roughly 1.5hrs drive where we got tickets to the pre booked (thanks tour guide Michelle) gondola ride to take us to the top. Now, I’m not going to lie, the snow was disappointing but for those among us that had never seen real snow before, they were ticking a box. It was a nice lookout, the viewing area prime for watching those that paid to ski or board on what little snow was left in the season. The restaurant at the top served us (as part of our ticket) a delicious 3 course meal which was enjoyed by all.
After lunch as we were making our way back out to the access area for playing in the snow we got a message from Mel. The Kamikaze Kid (Zane) had taken a fall off the monkey bars in between tours and she suspected a broken wrist. Her day was about to get long and her plans thoroughly disrupted.
We all made our separate ways back to base camp and then on stand by to assist Melissa as we could. Michelle collected Heath and we did a medicine recon mission and then we waited. Results in, the monkey bars had claimed another victim. The wrist in fact was broken and now waiting to be set under sedation. Melissa and Zane did not get back to base camp until just after 9pm. Big bloody day, but why let a broken bone stop our plans…
The final scene was to attempt a social media photo challenge with a bursting bottle of bubbles. At the direction of a very tired Mum who wanted to end the day with some fun, we frocked up and set the stage. Covered in bubbles and the mood thoroughly lifted, we dragged ourselves to bed for our last lakeside sleep.
Sunday, home time 😌
Packed and loaded, we first made sure Melissa was right before heading to Maccas for our preflight breakfast. The McDonald’s in Taupō is known as the world’s coolest due to the unusual dinning option of sitting in a full size aeroplane. Unfortunately, on the day we chose to have breakfast, that area was locked off but still pretty cool to look at from street side.
Hire car filled and dropped to Taupō airport, bags checked in and just settling into a game of kings in the corner when the announcement came that we needs to collect our bags as our flight had been cancelled due to engineering issues. Our plane was grounded in Auckland. Mel and boys took the bus option to Auckland while the rest of us retrieved our hire cars and hit the road to catch our connecting flight out of Auckland. We had plenty of time so no rush required and to be fair we probably only beat the bus by an hour. I don’t regret the battle ahead of me with the car hire company which desk was unmanned, because I would rather a drive than multi hour bus ride any day. Understandably, Melissa’s choice was the right one after an eventful day before and a one armed helper in toe.
One final delay fueling up the plane to deal with predicted weather on our crossing, before we were on our way home.
A holiday of many adventures and great company was done and dusted. We shan’t forget this one in a hurry ❤️
