Dateline January 27, 2015, Taupo and the Ambleside B&B
We drove south out of Auckland toward Taupo, making a day of it with stops along the way. A lot of New Zealand was shaped by volcanic activity, and the central part of the North Island is where you see the most of it. We stopped at Rotorua and had a look at the geysers, the bubbling cauldrons, and the hot mud baths. It reminded us of a smaller-scale Yellowstone. Spectacular to look at and a touch too hot to relax in.
Ambleside.
We arrived at the Ambleside B&B and met our wonderful hosts, Pat and Russell Jensen. They greeted us with an offer of tea and coffee. Janice and Bunny went with the tea. Russell offered wine to Pete and John. We settled in for an hour or so of great conversation.
Pat and Russell were both interesting to listen to. They had reared two sons on a farm not far from Hawke's Bay, raising deer and sheep. Pat had taught elementary school. They sold the farm about twenty years ago and built the home that is now also the B&B.
Russell's story.
Russell told us why they had eventually gotten out of farming. For years he had done very well supplying venison to Germany. When the Chernobyl nuclear accident happened, the Germans stopped importing venison, largely on the assumption that any venison from Eastern or Northern Europe might be contaminated, and New Zealand venison got swept up in the same shutdown. The sale of lamb alone was not strong enough to make up the loss.
He gave us a vivid example. He had once talked to a butcher from Norway who told him he could buy New Zealand lamb at about twenty percent of what he paid for Norwegian lamb at home, except that Norway would not allow lamb imports at all. The economics did not work.
And then there were the hawks. Russell told us that raising lambs is harder than it looks. When the mother sheep are heavy with lamb, late in pregnancy, and physically slow getting up, the hawks will come down and pick out their eyes. The farmers spend a fair amount of time hunting the hawks. We had no idea.
Down the hill for dinner.
Pat and Russell recommended a restaurant at the bottom of the hill that was walkable from the house and right on the lake. We walked down. We watched the sun set over the water.
The next morning we were served a breakfast that was just fantastic. Not the traditional heavy English breakfast you sometimes get at a B&B, but a lighter version that we loved. Pat offered to do our laundry for a nominal fee. We pulled together what we had and left it with her. What a gift on a trip this long.
We headed out to play golf at Wairakei Golf Club. When we came back from the round, Pat and Russell told us we were welcome to use their hot tub. The tub is heated by the geothermal water that runs under their property on its way out to the lake. Russell had built a pumping system to bring the water up to the tub. It is the only hot tub we have ever been in that you actually have to add cold water to in order to bring it down to a temperature you can sit in.
We drove back up to the house, a little wiped out from the day, and ordered pizza from a local place. Janice was happy to take a long soak in the hot tub. Her hip had been bothering her in recent weeks, and the geothermal heat was as good as therapy. The pizza arrived. We had dinner on the patio. It was lovely. We were tired, and we made it an early evening.
The next morning Pat served us another brilliant breakfast, this time with homemade bread and cereal. Wow. It was time to say our goodbyes, though we knew we would stay in touch with them for years to come. If you are planning a trip to New Zealand and the Taupo area, this is a must-stay B&B.
Huka Falls on the way out.
Pat and Russell suggested we go see the Huka Falls on our way out of town. We took the suggestion.
The volume of water moving over those falls is hard to put into words. From there it was off to Kinloch for golf on the Jack Nicklaus design.
