Jet boats and boiling beaches.

We had a pretty cruisy day today, not straying too far from Taupo. Our first stop was the Huka Falls - specifically, screaming sideways along the Huka River just below the Falls.

Serene, isn't it?

Our driver/captain/pilot was a nice guy - who even took pity on Hamish's ridiculous fringe (snapping about due to our break-neck speeds), taking a pit-stop to allow him a chance to secure a hairband so he could actually witness the rapidly-approaching riverbanks. I could be wrong, but it looked like he did a quick head-count after each 360 (there were a couple of smaller kids at the back of the boat I guess).

Huka Falls - seen from below.

Hamish sporting the latest in topknots, and me getting my Bane on.

Thanks to the raincoat onesies, we remained remarkably dry (aside from absolutely saturated noggins) - and made our way directly to the nearby Huka Falls lookout. There was some bored/official-looking dude with a sign indicating that the relevant car park was full, so we improvised further along the road. We noted with some degree of indignation that there were actually plenty of free spaces as we ambled past.

Quite a few litres of Lake Taupo hurtling towards the Falls.

We got back to our room fairly early on (we were on the 10:05am Jet Boat after all), so thought we might head down to the Lake - as we'd heard that there was a warm section near us.

View from precariously near our hot tub.

We were initially confused about where the warm bit of the lake was - but came across a less than subtle sign. The boys managed to locate a decent mix of hot geothermal water and the icy stuff from the lake. Lily managed to locate a section of shoreline that was a little too close to the source of the geothermal water. She vacated the water with one very pink foot.

That sounds reasonably warm.

Josh - slowly basting by the Lakes edge.

We had dinner in one of the line of cafes/restaurants overlooking the lake, and watched the mighty Canterbury Kings down the table-topping Wellington Firebirds as part of the local Super Smash competition. 

Jen took charge of filling the hot tub this evening, so naturally she was the only one resilient enough to dip more than her feet in the seething tank of geothermal water.