Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Day 24 The drive down to Taupo and the Alpaca Farm

In Otorohanga, we were very close to the Waitomo caves. They are famous for the glowworms that inhabit the ceilings and walls of the cave.  We descended into the cave then boarded a boat in almost total darkness. The effect was pretty cool. It reminded me of a scene from the movie, Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne.  I joked that they could have achieved the same effect by recessing 1000's of green LED's into the rock.





This section of NZ is famous for its karst topography. That means the landscape is full of well rounded hills and outcroppings. Here is an example along the road to Taupo...











  Distances in New Zealand are deceiving. Things that appear close on a map are much farther when you factor in winding 2-lane roads. So just getting to Taupo took us almost half a day. But when we arrived we were greeted by Jack the farm dog / greeting committee. We were shown to our comfortable cabin with a view of the sheep and alpacas.

We went into Taupo for dinner at Dixie Brown's and noticed the McDonalds in town. It's the only Micky D's I have ever seen with a DC3 for a playground





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