Day Off

December 6, 2009

When the weather at Mt. Ruapehu is bad enough to actually close the ski area, we get a day off.  There’s not much to do in Ohakune on a stormy day, but Taupo is only an hour and a half away.  I piled into the snowboard team’s van with a few colleagues for a much needed rest day.

On the way to Taupo, we stopped at Burger King in Taurangi, a town known to tourists for it’s fly fishing on the south end of Lake Taupo, but for residents of Ohakune, it’s knows as the closest fast food, a rare treat for young ski bums.  Once we got to town, we took a little time to walk around and digest our greasy food before heading out to the hot springs along the Waikato River.  There is a series of small thermal streams which flow into the river, the water getting hotter the farther upstream that you go.   The more daring bathers (myself including) can take a dive into the frigid winter river to cool off, just be careful of the current!

After drying off, we drove back to town to catch a movie.  The dilapidated Ohakune theater makes the small Taupo cinema with six modest theaters and hot popcorn seem modern and exciting.  Before heading home, we went for some more fast food and then settled back into the van for the long drive home.

Filed under: Daily Life,Food & Drink,New Zealand

Tags: driving, fast food, food, hot springs, movie theater, movies, New Zealand, Ohakune, swimming, Taupo, winter