Little settlements that serve as rest stops for bus travellers often turn out to be a little slice of local life. A little place called Flat Hills was out lunch stop on Monday.
At this point of the New Plymouth - Taupo bus journey we were already climbing to a drier plateau and out of verdant dairy farm country. As you can see, it’s pretty much your average middle-of-nowhere stop with a little café, picnic area, petting zoo of sorts, and the requisite gift shop.
Several buses converged on here at the same time so the people-watching was interesting. A Buddhist monk in robes eating rice, two young guys perhaps from Sri Lanka looking a bit dazed and confused, older couples out on an escorted tour, the Asian girl on my bus with the annoying ringtone on her mobile phone. (honey, you can turn that off if you’re just txting)
Gift shop had the usual tourist crap.
Not sure what they mean by world-famous, but their lamb burger did not agree with me. Had to pick up some Mylanta antacid tablets as soon as I hit Taupo.
The scenery from this point to Taupo was very interesting. We went over the Desert Road which looked very much like high desert in, say, eastern Oregon or even New Mexico. Except not a sagebrush in sight, and some massive volcanoes on the horizon. I had no idea they had this landscape. Bus driver pointed out the NZ army doing exercises at top of plateau in their restricted area.
As we descended the scenery became more green and lush. Even followed along Lake Taupo (NZ’s largest lake) on a narrow windy road - kind of like the one along Kootenay Lake from Crawford Bay south.
Taupo, the town at north end of the lake, is reminiscent of Penticton in size and being a resort and such. Too bad I don’t fish, because this place is supposedly world-renowned for brown trout.
At this point of the New Plymouth - Taupo bus journey we were already climbing to a drier plateau and out of verdant dairy farm country. As you can see, it’s pretty much your average middle-of-nowhere stop with a little café, picnic area, petting zoo of sorts, and the requisite gift shop.
Several buses converged on here at the same time so the people-watching was interesting. A Buddhist monk in robes eating rice, two young guys perhaps from Sri Lanka looking a bit dazed and confused, older couples out on an escorted tour, the Asian girl on my bus with the annoying ringtone on her mobile phone. (honey, you can turn that off if you’re just txting)
Gift shop had the usual tourist crap.
Not sure what they mean by world-famous, but their lamb burger did not agree with me. Had to pick up some Mylanta antacid tablets as soon as I hit Taupo.
The scenery from this point to Taupo was very interesting. We went over the Desert Road which looked very much like high desert in, say, eastern Oregon or even New Mexico. Except not a sagebrush in sight, and some massive volcanoes on the horizon. I had no idea they had this landscape. Bus driver pointed out the NZ army doing exercises at top of plateau in their restricted area.
As we descended the scenery became more green and lush. Even followed along Lake Taupo (NZ’s largest lake) on a narrow windy road - kind of like the one along Kootenay Lake from Crawford Bay south.
Taupo, the town at north end of the lake, is reminiscent of Penticton in size and being a resort and such. Too bad I don’t fish, because this place is supposedly world-renowned for brown trout.
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