Tom On day 5 of our travels in New Zealand, we spent our time in Taupo, covering one of the main attractions here – the Lake Taupo Maori Cave Carving Cruise…
New Zealand Travel Itinerary Day 5 – Taupo Mini Golf
We started the day with some history channel that covered the history of Australia (on voting for aborigines, women’s rights and Vietnam War) as well as Rosetta Stone that held the key to understanding hieroglyphics (as the Rosetta Stone was written in 3 languages – Ancient Greek, Ancient Hieroglyphics and Demotics (an older form of Egyptian)). After immersing ourselves in some historical information, we headed out for our first activity of the day…Taupo Mini Golf!
To enjoy the local vibes, we strolled along the beautiful pathway next to Lake Taupo…
While walking along the paths next to Lake Taupo, we noticed some people digging into the sand next to the lake. We later found out that if you dig into the sand, the waters are actually heated up due to the volcanic activities of Taupo Volcano. In this way, by mixing a cold water of Lake Taupo and heat from the geothermal sand, you’ll be able to create a nice little heated pool for yourself. We also saw a bicycle repair station that is available for use by the public. A nifty idea that we could actually adapt for Singapore.
Taupo Mini Golf costs $13 per person for a game of 18 holes. Although it was not as challenging as Holey Moley Mini Golf, it does have a nice open-air atmosphere with views of Lake Taupo in the distance. Also, if you scored a hole-in-one, you’ll receive a complimentary game. Guess who scored a hole-in-one? Kate, of course! Visitors can also play a second game for $9, which we did thereafter.
New Zealand Travel Itinerary Day 5 – Strolling Around Taupo City Centre
After a competitive game of mini-golf, we headed back to Taupo town to visit the World’s Coolest McDonald’s!
This wasn’t just any ordinary McDonald’s. Next to it, there’s actually a 20 seater Douglas DC-3’s airplane! We later found out that this McDonald’s in Taupo is also the World’s Coolest McDonald’s where you actually dine inside the Douglas DC-3 and even have a view from the cockpit!
As you can see, there were many kids and family dining onboard the Douglas DC-3 at the World’s Coolest McDonald’s in Taupo New Zealand. There were some historical information about the plane that you can learn about within as well. The other highlight for us was the Big Mac itself. With the 100% NZ beef, it was tender, flavourful, unlike any other Big Macs we’ve tried. We had the New York Benedict Bagel Meal ($12.10) and the Double Big Mac Burger ($10.40). Yummy!
Strolling around Taupo City Centre, we chanced upon the Jade Centre at Taupo. We had originally wanted to purchase a pair of rings from Hobbiton but decided not to that time. This time, we decided to browse the rings and found a pair that fitted us both nicely (after browsing through all the available rings in a basket). We then learnt that our jade rings were made of Canadian Jade as the larger jades were used to craft larger displays so the smaller bits were shipped over to NZ to be made into smaller items such as our rings ($14 SGD each).
Further on, we walked past a pop-up local produce and were attracted by a sign that said “White Flesh Nectarine for $4”. While inside, we also bought a super large real fruit ice cream (apricot flavour) which was blended with yoghurt ice cream and placed atop a waffle cone for $5. We saw that alot of frozen apricot was used and it didn’t melt as fast as usual ice creams. Very shiok!
New Zealand Travel Itinerary Day 5 – Lake Taupo Maori Cave Carving Cruise
At about 1pm, we arrived for our boat ride out to Lake Taupo to visit the beautiful Maori Cave Carvings. We found our seats on the upper deck next to the Captain. An excellent seat where we could have the “Captain’s-Eye view” of Lake Taupo and interact with the Captain enroute. He also told us several nuggets of information such as Lake Taupo being a self-sustaining trout fishery where no weight or bait could be used. Only artificial flies and lures with trouts larger than 35cm, allowed to be taken out of Lake Taupo.
During the cruise, besides seeing the exquisite Maori Cave Carving, we were also treated to a trout fishing demonstration. The Captain was able to show us where the trouts had migrated to (120 ft) due to the warmer waters below the surface. True enough, during the demonstration, a couple of trouts were caught. We were also treated to some trout canape as well as muffin/coffee enroute. The entire cruise took us about 1.5hrs in total and we had a pretty good time learning about the carvings as well as information around Lake Taupo.
New Zealand Travel Itinerary Day 5 – Cornerstone Taphouse Taupo
After our boat cruise on Lake Taupo, we visited Cornerstone Taphouse Taupo where we had one of the best beers during this trip – the Haze of Glory IPA! From the outside, Kate was attracted by the colours of Cornerstone Taphouse Taupo while Tom was attracted by the Happy Hours that ran from 3pm to 6pm daily. After the cruise ended at about 3pm, we were right on time for happy hours! The Haze of Glory was refreshing and had a rich citrus flavour that was so beautifully crafted. At $28 for a jug, it was very affordable for a craft beer.
On the way back to the Millenium Manuel Hotel, we watched some visitors try their luck at the Hole-In-One Golf…
We also tried to dip our legs in the warmed water next to Lake Taupo. An older lady told us that if we digged a little bit, the water would be warm and yes, it was really nice. Made our skin smooth as well 😁
After reaching our hotel, we decided to make another stop to Waitoke Beach to check out the views. Though it was not as nice as anticipated, it was still chillax to just open the boot of the hatchback and face the waters of Lake Taupo. As for refuelling, we were not able to pump at the cheaper GULL station but did manage to do so at Mobil instead – prices were cheaper than in Singapore.
New Zealand Travel Itinerary Day 5 – Dinner at Edgewater Restaurant Taupo
For dinner, we headed back to Edgewater Restaurant within our hotel at Millennium Manuel Hotel Taupo. They are actually famed for their grills and this time, we ordered the Braised Lamb Shank ($38) as well as the Rib Eye on the Bone ($68) with red wine jus. As the steak already came with duck fat potato (yum!), we chose seasonal vegetables as our 2nd side. To accompany our meal, we had Merlot ($10) and a Hazy IPA ($14.5 – Tuatara Brewery)…
We came in hungry but left Edgewater Restaurant Taupo, so so full! Both portions of the lamb and the steak were HUGE! We loved the flavourful grilled taste of the steak, along with its beefy-ness and tender texture on the cut. Perfect piece of grill. Even the vegetables were so fragrant and the carrots were so sweet! Even the cherry tomatoes were burst-in-your-mouth juicy! The lamb also did not have any trace of gamey taste. Alot of effort and marination must have gone into removing the gamey-ness completely. Overall, it was an excellent meal!
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Stay tuned for Day 6 of our travels in New Zealand as we headed further south to Wellington and try out the delicious wines of New Zealand enroute!
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