We got up after a lie in aching from the walk we had done yesterday, after getting ready we headed out to a thermal walk area and had a nice very short walk around thermal spring pools and hot mud baths. Afterwards we drove to a place to get some great views of lake Taupo from the south end. We then hit the road and started driving north round the east side of the lake stopping a few times to view it before getting to the town of Taupo. After a browse round the tourist information we found a backpackers which allowed us to park our van there for the night for a little fee then headed out for a walk around the town.

After checking out town we headed to the harbour area where we found a sailing boat which had a half price offer on. It sailed part of the way round the lake to some rock carvings done by Maori people and was only $20 (£10) for over 2 hours, thinking we had a good bargain we booked onto it. We boarded and then started heading out, unfortunately there was no wind so we used the motor. On the way the skipper told us some interesting facts about the lake, some of which are listed below:

1. It is actually the crater of a super volcano.
2. The Volcano is the largest in the world.
3. It's a dormant volcano, so basically sleeping but could wake up one day.
4. A little while back while he was on the lake a giant gas bubble was released into it and it was like being in a giant washing machine.
5. The last eruption of this volcano covered the whole earth.
6. It was the biggest eruption while humans have been on earth.
7. The boat we were on had sank before and was risen, it now has lots of rust underneath it.

After the facts we were allowed to ask him some questions, straight away I knew what I wanted to know…… 'Can we please turn back and take the shortest route back to shore?' unfortunately the answer was 'No'. So we carried on around the lake heading past a load of multi million dollar holiday homes before coming to the stone caving site. It was very impressive seeing a humongous stone face carved on a cliff which had been washed flat by the lakes wave. It was the same height as the boats mask, there were also some other cool carvings of lizards and faces and animals around the area. We were amazed at these carvings which had been done many years ago…… actually another fact came out then they were only 35 years old and the carvers were all still alive today. Apparently they had got high and decided it would be a good idea to hang off a cliff and carve the stone away. Still impressive to see, unfortunately the open sesame password didn't work on the large face carving. We then turned and started heading back, he raised the sail but the wind wasn't very strong so after moving about 10 meters in around half an hour he decided to put the engine on and we headed back to shore. As soon as we were docked we quickly leapt of the boat to get out of the super volcano's crater. We then headed back through town to our backpackers for dinner, mmmmmm mini lasagne's coated in breadcrumbs. We then had a relaxing evening catching up with the online world and letting home know we were still alive.