Some Retro Time With Ernest

March 12

Well, Taupo was such a lovely little town and right beside the lake, that I had to start the day with a quick morning run, so out I went for a sharp 6km, with the lake beside me. Terrific. There were other walkers and runners around and we exchanged smiling “good mornings”. There were even people in the lake swimming. Good luck to them, brave folk that they are, because that water would be cold! Just around the corner is Hot Beach, where steam rises from the water because of geothermal activity, but these brave souls were swimming in the regular chilly water. Round of applause to them. I passed a couple of dog walkers and a Labrador trotted up to me, carrying its lead in its mouth and with a smile on its face that said, “I’ve just been for a swim! A swim! I’ve been in for a swim!”.

Run done, we organised ourselves, checked out and headed down to the lake for our morning activity…a two hour cruise up the lake to see some Maori carvings. Our vessel for the cruise was Ernest Kemp and there it was, berthed beside another boat about to take a load of people out to the same carvings. Our neighbouring boat was a huge, upstairs downstairs cruiser. Their advertisement said their cruise included “a hot, freshly made muffin with tea and coffee.” We boarded Ernest and took our place at the rear, in the open where we had prime position for photos and could take in the lake air. Refreshments were provided with our cruise too…a plastic wrapped Arnotts biscuit and a paper cup of tea or coffee. We had some commentary that gave us some facts about the sites we were seeing and in between these bursts of commentary we had music playing. This could only be described as the “easy listening” variety…some Paul Simon and a bit of Phil Collins. I smiled. It was all somehow quaintly perfect! We had a boat with character, not a fancy schmancy cruiser, we had an Arnott’s biscuit with a paper cup brew and some vintage Bowie in our ear alongside some Neil Diamond. I’ll take that retro experience over the fancy one any day! Add to that, the average age of the passengers seemed to be about 65 and it somehow felt as if we were among our peeps, those who like a quieter side of life. I could feel it was going to be a nice cruise with Ernest.

Ernest choofed across the lake and there was no danger of a hat being blown off. No high octane speeds for Ernest, just a sedate splash through the water of Lake Taupo, which happens to be a super volcano that last erupted 1800 years ago, leaving a caldera that is now the lake. Our skipper took us up to the carvings that stand 14 metres high and we bobbed and swayed in the waves as photos were taken.

The chug back across the lake was just as enjoyable, as tunes that would be right at home on the playlist of Smooth FM accompanied the lapping of the boat’s wake. There was some prime real estate lining the edges of the lake and some homes that could easily have made an episode of Grand Designs New Zealand. When we arrived back at the wharf and were walking off, I heard the lady behind me say to the woman, who was the single member of crew, “Thank you, we enjoyed that. We liked the music, it was our style.”  Ah yes, Ernest had catered to a certain demographic for sure and there was another happy passenger!

After a quick bite to eat, we motored up to Huka Falls, a stunning, rushing torrent of water with an eleven metre drop and a flow of water over the drop of 220,000 litres per second. We started at a section where we could see the river and the rushing flow of water as it roared downstream. Then we drove further up, where we could walk to a lookout near the falls. We walked down the bush track, amongst the greenery and the noise of the falls could be heard the whole way. The view was amazing and the water a spectacular clear and vibrant blue, as we stood in amazement at the ferocity of the water rushing below us. A jet boat company roared past, taking a group up to the falls, turning 360 degree turns in the raging water, sending the passengers into squeals of delight / terror as the boat tipped and plunged in the swirling torrent. 

After getting our fill of this natural wonder, we hiked back up the track and continued our onward journey, heading for Cambridge. We were again met with countless sections of road works with those pesky 30km/h speed zones, but we got there in the end. Our accommodation is a lovely cottage / apartment in a rural area just on the outskirts of Cambridge centre. We are in equine country and there are horse studs everywhere. We took a stroll through the centre of Cambridge, where mosaic portraits of famous horses are set into the footpaths and the town has a quiet and somewhat leafy feel to it. Nice.

Another day down and another combo of top experiences. A morning run in picturesque surroundings, a smile inducing retro cruise, a visit to a spectacular waterfall and then ending up in a nice town with a pit stop in a quiet spot beside paddocks. Top day. We’ll base ourselves here for a couple of days, while we explore with some day trips about the area to continue our discoveries before heading home. I just hope I can sleep. Something tells me I may have some “easy listening” ear worms that will drill into my head tonight. I really hope it’s not Neil Diamond. I really have a hard time with Neil Di-…Sweeeeeet Caroliiiiiine, da-da-da…Aaaaaaah, it’s started already!