Taupo

So we arrived in Taupo in the early afternoon on Feb 25. 
On our way we took a little break at Huka Falls, where the Waikato river (New Zealands longest river) starts.


After arriving, I walked down to „the city centre“ and the lake.Though the city of Taupo is tiny, I liked it. On my way back from the south island to Auckland I’ll probably spend a few more days there. I went to the lak twice that day, the first time my camera’s battery died and the second one was still charging in the hostel, but it gave me the opportunity to see the the sunset on the lake the second time I went down. 

 Lake taupo is incredibly large, it is 616 square kilometres big, and a supervolcano at the same time. Thelast major eruption was 1.800 years ago and is the worlds most violent eruption in the last 5000 years!! Also, if you woul stretch a rope between the city of Taupo and the other end, it would be under the water surface in the middle as the lake even copes with the Earth's curvature!


The next day I accidentally overslept, thanks to my roommates I still got up in time. My alarm ringed at 4am, and I got up at 4:45. The bus that took us to Tongariro National park came at 5:10am, and I managed to get ready and prepare some sandwiches and everything for the day in just 25min. Never been so fast in the morning ':D  I did the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, a 20km walk across the vulcanoes in the Tongariro National Park close to Mount Tongariro itself. The walk is rated as the worlds 3rd best walk by National Geographic. It took me 7 hours and 40 minutes to finish, it may sound long but the first 8km are steady up hill, 2km of stairs and very steep ground. The „Devil’s staircase“ got its name for a reason. I took heaps of small breaks, my knees hurted a lot and it is better to have a break instead of walking very slowly.
We arrive there by sunrise, spectacular view already.







 Both #lovetaupo photos are unedited!

 Sunrise at the start of the Tongariro Crossing


 First lighting on that day- note that beautiful ice blue sky <3



 A small part of Devil's staircase ↑

 1886 metres altitude on the Red Crater
 Emerald Lakes
 The darker one from above. The plants are weeds they try to remove
 Blue Lake-the fourth and biggest one

 Waterfalls from the next day




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