New Zealand Day 20

New Zealand Day 20  Thursday February 6th   

Taupo  

Waitangii Day public holiday commemorating signing of treaty with Maoris in mid 19th century.

We are her on Lake Taupo a neat modern holiday resort.  Everything looks clean and well cared for.  Our motel is very upmarket with lots of nice features own spa bath, thermal mineral outdoor hot pool and heated swimming pool.  Some of the beachside suites are really fabulous.

Heated pool in bottom left corner thermal mineral pool above.

Beachside luxury rooms

Beach on Lake Taupo at sunset behind motel

We set out to look around town to see what was on offer and decided to go on a sailing ship tour of Maori carving sited on east side of lake.  The day was a very good sailing day sunny and breezy.  The ship was called the 'Barbary ' and was reputedly owned by Errol Flynn for a while.  He had it in lieu of a gambling debt for about 6 months until the debt was paid off.  They can't prove it but there are photos of him on the 

boat.

The Barbary

We went out at 2 o'clock in afternoon and there was a strong breeze.  The skipper was a woman as was her mate.

We were sitting along seating area running along deck.  When we got under sail the boat (I'm not a sailor so excuse lack of nautical terms) listed to the side that we were on and our feet were under water -absolutely terrific feeling -very exciting.  We seem to get most of the waves and our feet were frequently in the sea - literally.

After a really exiting voyage out to the carvings we reached quieter waters and were able to get a good look at the carvings.  These are not old but were created by Maori artists in the late 70s on a rock face and represent the face of the leader of the main Maori settlement to New Zealand and the minor ones represent stories connected to Maori legend.

We should have had a drier time coming back but we still seem to have more than our fair share of the waves particularly the people on the prow of the boat.

They were a lot wetter than this looks