Given the land's diversity, lots of towns are situated around natural wonders in order to thrive on tourism. While Rotorau is famous for spas and thermal wonderlands, Taupo is known for Waikato River and Lake Taupo. Arriving at Taupo in mid-day, Mich and I decided to take a drive down to Huka Falls. There the sheer volume of Waikato River is squeezed through a narrow gorge and over a short drop. Inevitably, the huge amount of water gushing through the gorge shoots out over a distance to form a beautiful sapphire-emerald pool. Walking on the riverside walk, I paused several times to stare dumbfounded at the ever-swirling and ever-foaming water.
A little distance away from Huka Falls is the Huka Falls Prawn Park. Compared to the over-crowded, production-line-like prawning avenues in Singapore, this place is way better. Here families sit on the grass by strips of water and enjoy an outdoor prawning experience. One can fish for as long as one likes and the park will cook the catch for free. There is also an alfresco restaurant specialising in prawn menus. Mich and I didn't participate in the prawning though as we were on a tight schedule this trip. On our way back to our hostel, we stopped by a small hill to take in the scenary and caught the below sight. Here's my amateur attempt at a haiku (3-line Japanese poem):
The autumn breeze brings
a veil of soft rain
and an drop of coloured sunlight
Compared to prawning, Mich and I were more eager to try out the famed trout fishing at Lake Taupo. On our second day of stay here, we rented a small boat and rode the waves to the centre of the lake. According to our captain, Lake Taupo is larger than Singapore and has a trout population of 3 million. Although locals and tourists are free to fish the trouts, there is a law which requires trouts below a certain length to be released. Additionally, each person is only allowed a certain number of catches per day. New Zealanders really live harmoniously with nature, something which we have no opportunity to appreciate back home.
Within a few minutes, our captain taught us how trout fishing aboard a boat works. Basically much of the activity is automated, you let the fishing line into the water and place your rod in a holder. Then you wait for the anticipated twitching of the fishing rod. When that happens, you reel in the line and struggle a bit with the trout. Frankly speaking, I'm more of a process-focused person than a results-oriented person. Though this method of trout fishing is without fuss and effective, I find it too automated. It is enjoyble still but I would have preferred if there is more hands-on and technique involved. It just wasn't challenging enough for me to feel extremely proud of my catch. Mich, on the other hand, finds automated trout fishing very comfortable and thus, very enjoyable. Guess she's the kind of person who prefers taking in a beautiful sunset from the inside of a air-conditioned beach cafe.
Nonetheless, trout fishing - highly recommended to-do activity in New Zealand. The feeling of a fat catch in your hand is amazing. After we got off our boat, the captain helped to arranged for our trouts to be smoked and sealed. We then obtained an insulator bag from a supermarket and stored the trouts in it. For the remainder of the holiday, we carried the trouts from town to town in our car and transfer them to fridges at hostels whenever we can. Much later, when I returned to Singapore, I made trout cream out of the smoked trout and served them with crackers. Really excellant tasting. Best cream crackers I've ever eaten.
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