Sailing on Lake Taupo – Day 297

Today we’re going to be sailing to the famous Maori rock carvings of Lake Taupo.

This holiday park here in Taupo is huge! There is a massive geothermal swimming pool there is a swim-to bar. That’s to tell you. There’s a massive screen over there. it’s not playing anything right now. And behind me if you look there is a massive cave and you can go swim into which is over 4m deep. Oh my God.

I’m serious guys. Lake Taupo Holiday Resort is a holiday park where you can park your campervan for about $25 and have access to all those facilities. It is so epic.

I can’t imagine a best way to start our rainy day in Taupo. But because we’re here to explore so much that Taupo has to offer we head toward the harbour because we’re gonna jump on a cruise.

At the Taupo boat harbour we meet Jamie from Sail Barbary along with his two huge white yachts ready to hit the water the boat we’re gonna be taking today is Barbary ii.

It doesn’t take long for the rest of the passengers to join which we really have a big mix of people on board with us today from backpackers, families and even locals.

Once everyone is on board we are pulling out of the Taupo Boat Harbour which happens to be situated at the very start of the longest river in New Zealand which Jamie is telling us all about, the river Waikato.

Not only is it the longest river in New Zealand but it actually comes from the largest lake in New Zealand, Lake Taupo, which is actually so big it’s said to fit the entirety of Singpore inside it.

Once we get on the way we see the weather start to turn but luckily the guys at Barbary have us prepared with these huge custom made ponchos which are waterproof, windproof and lined with a nice warm fleece.

As you can tell, I am a massive fan of these ponchos but like most of the time with the weather in New Zealand it doesn’t take long for the rain to pass.

As we start sailing across the lake Jamie is telling us loads about the area and the fact that we are actually sailing the crater of an ancient super volcano, because yes, Lake Taupo, is the second largest volcano in the world. How awesome is that?

Alright so I’m betting that in about 10 minutes Laura is gonna be in front of the boat and do a stupid Titanic impression.

And I kid you not guys it actually only took her five minutes to actually do that Laura is a living cliche.

Let’s talk a little bit about our boat. It’s the second electric powered commercial vessel in New Zealand only second to Barbary one which is also owned by Jamie but we’re pretty lucky today it’s rather windy so we don’t really need to use the electric power of the boat and we can sail away toward the beautiful Maori carvings.

The Maori carvings is probably the most iconic picture spot in the whole of Lake Taupo it’s probably the one thing that you’ve seen in any brochures any magazine any guide including NZPocketGuide.com about Lake Taupo it’s an absolutely amazing work of art.

And it doesn’t really take us long to get to it and start snapping shots.

Nothing prepares us this huge scale of the Maori carvings carved into the cliff face of Mine Bay. They reach about 14 metres tall and even on the boat we are looking up at these carvings they’re absolutely amazing.

There are lots of different aspects to these carvings there’s a lot of animals carved into the rocks different people but the main feature is the huge carving of an old Maori ancestor called Ngatorurangi.

We get plenty of time at the Maori rock carvings to take loads of pictures and hear the story behind each of the carvings then on the way back it’s time for some refreshments. Usually there’s alcohol on board to be served but because we’ve arrived on a public holiday they’re not allowed to serve alcohol but there’s snacks!

Seriously with such an epic itinerary and so much action we end up snacking so much and we feel like we’re getting less healthier by the minute. So we’re trying to control ourselves a bit but we’re really not helping each other.

Anyway getting back to the cruise it’s pretty awesome that Jamie has some waterproof speakers all around the boat so he can play us some music which obviously I cannot show you guys because of copyright issues but it’s some really cool tunes.

Because Lake Taupo is such a gigantic lake it is world famous for having an ever changing weather and seriously the weather can turn in a heartbeat and it’s happening to us again right now.

Just behind us is a massive storm and we’re gonna hit it just before heading home so we are hiding all the cameras we are putting the ponchos back on at we’re bracing ourselves the storm is coming.

So as we’re getting closer to the harbour, the kids are inside the boat dry and having fun playing games but we are braving the weather we want to make the most of our time on this awesome boat so we are staying outside having fun with Jamie and to be fair most of the tour which is brave enough until the sun shines again as we’re arriving back to port.

Sailing with Barbary was an amazing way to start our stay in Taupo where we’re gonna be staying for at least two weeks cos there’s so much to do here.

And here you are guys what is Laura doing? She’s getting the cookies she says she’s not going to get any cookies and was always me. Remember on the boat. Remember what she did? Look at that.

Robin begged me from the toilet to get them.