Adventures Abound: weekend at Pukawa

What a relaxing time we had. It is about 2 1/2 hour drive to the western shore of Lake Taupo, specifically, to the town of Pukawa. Adrian's colleague very generously offered us the use of his bach (pronounced batch, holiday home). It is on a hill with a large deck and nice views of the lake. We arrived late enough that we missed the sunset but loved the stars! The milky way, Jupiter, a sliver of a moon, Orion's belt were all putting on a glittery show for us. Restful night for all of us and an easy start to Saturday. Perfect weather.

A walk to the shore, a swim in the lake, picked up plenty of pumice for lovely feet, lunch at a winery - the Floating Rock - and back to the batch for sunset, evening meal and more stars. Relaxing. Rejuvenating. A change is as good as a rest, certainly. Saturday was a walk around Lake Rotopounamu (say that three times fast, I struggle with one time) and a great relax in the hot pools (explained below). Finally, lunch and cleanup at the bach and home by 5:30.

Taupo is a crater lake. Here is some more info from Wikipedia - Lake Taupo lies in a caldera created by a supervolcanic eruption which occurred approximately 26,500 years ago. According to geological records, the volcano has erupted 28 times in the last 27,000 years. It has ejected mostly rhyolitic lava, although Mount Tauhara formed from dacitic lava.

The initial event 26,500 years ago is the largest eruption and is known as the Oruanui eruption. It ejected an estimated 1170 cubic kilometres of material and caused several hundred square kilometres of surrounding land to collapse and form the caldera. The caldera later filled with water, eventually overflowing to cause a huge outwash flood.

Underwater hydrothermal activity continues near the Horomatangi vent,^[6] and nearby geothermal fields with associated hot springs are found north and south of the lake, for example at Rotokawa and Turangi. These springs are the site of occurrence of certain extremophile micro-organisms, that are capable of surviving in extremely hot environments.