Таупо

After arriving in Taupo, we took a day off. We were caught camping outside the city, but managed to talk our way out of the $200 fine. The next day, we visited the Huka Falls, where we took some cool photos. Taupo is located on New Zealand's largest lake, Lake Taupo. Taupo is also the starting point of the Waikato River, New Zealand's longest river.

From Taupo, we headed towards Rotorua after coming across a geyser in the travel guide. In hindsight, it wasn't as great as expected, as it was smaller than anticipated.

So we quickly continued from Taupo to the southern end of the lake with the goal of hiking the Alpine Crossing, one of New Zealand's most visited hiking trails. We started at Highway 47 and hiked eastward, passing Mount Ngauruhoe, better known as Mount Doom from The Lord of the Rings. We hiked to the Red Crater and the Emerald Lakes and then turned back. While Robin went back to the car, I decided to climb Mount Doom, which was not easy. It took me nearly two hours to climb up and about 45 minutes to come back down. There are no paths, so you have to create your own on the steep slope mostly made up of loose lava stones. When I reached the top, the sky had clouded over, ruining the view. But on the way up, I could still see enough and take photos.
When I finally made it back to the car just before sunset, we continued our search for a campsite, which turned out to be impossible as they were all closed. So we found a restaurant to at least have something to eat after the exhausting day. We stumbled upon a great burger place. We ended up camping on the side of the road again.

After a day of rest, we are now heading towards Wellington, excited to leave behind the North Island and cross over to the South Island.