{"id":594,"date":"2017-03-15T05:56:28","date_gmt":"2017-03-15T05:56:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.expedia.co.nz\/stories\/great-lake-taupo\/"},"modified":"2022-04-21T01:37:05","modified_gmt":"2022-04-21T01:37:05","slug":"great-lake-taupo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.expedia.co.nz\/stories\/great-lake-taupo\/","title":{"rendered":"48 hours in Great Lake Taupo"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Taupo is surrounded by mountains and volcanoes \u2013 it\u2019s the epitome of what you\u2019d expect to see when you think of New Zealand. Natural hot springs, gourmet restaurants, local friendliness and an abundance of activities make it one of my favourite places for a quick getaway.<\/p>\n<p>Located just three-and-a-half hours from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.expedia.co.nz\/Auckland.d178233.Destination-Travel-Guides?brandcid=blog.taupo.sophiechan_170317\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Auckland<\/a> or five hours from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.expedia.co.nz\/Wellington.d6127327.Destination-Travel-Guides?brandcid=blog.taupo.sophiechan_170317\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Wellington<\/a>, Taupo is a favourite long weekender spot with North Islanders \u2013 here\u2019s how to have an adventure-packed 48 hours in Taupo.\u00a0<em><strong>And be sure to check out my Video Guide <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=uQn8Z0TTXQ0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<h2>Culture while you cruise: the Maori Rock Carvings<\/h2>\n<p>Lake Taupo is so large that you could fit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.expedia.co.nz\/Singapore.d180027.Destination-Travel-Guides?brandcid=blog.taupo.sophiechan_170317\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Singapore<\/a> into the size of it, so naturally there\u2019s many types of water activities to choose from, but this activity is extra special. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.expedia.co.nz\/things-to-do\/lake-taupo-scenic-cruise-by-chris-jolly-outdoors.a261881.activity-details?brandcid=blog.taupo.sophiechan_170317\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Maori Rock Carvings at Mine Bay<\/a> are only accessible by water, and a boat cruise is the best way to get there. Hailed as one of New Zealand\u2019s most extraordinary artworks, they tower 14 metres above the deep water of Lake Taupo and are impressive to say the least. The carvings were created in the late \u201970s by master carver Matahi Whakataka-Brightwell and Jonathan Randell as a gift to Taupo. Brightwell led a team of four artists to create this spectacular carving of his ancestor Ngatoroirangi on the rock face, spending four summers completing the work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Taupo is surrounded by mountains and volcanoes \u2013 it\u2019s the epitome of what you\u2019d expect to see when you think of New Zealand. Natural hot springs, gourmet restaurants, local friendliness and an abundance of activities make it one of my favourite places for a quick getaway. Located just three-and-a-half hours from Auckland or five hours&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.expedia.co.nz\/stories\/great-lake-taupo\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">48 hours in Great Lake Taupo<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":1868,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5,2,4,462],"tags":[463,49,464],"authors":[],"class_list":["post-594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adventure","category-destination","category-experiences","category-explore","category-new-zealand","tag-lake-taupo","tag-new-zealand","tag-sophie-chan","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>48 hours in Great Lake Taupo | Expedia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.expedia.co.nz\/stories\/great-lake-taupo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"48 hours in Great Lake Taupo | Expedia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Taupo is surrounded by mountains and volcanoes \u2013 it\u2019s the epitome of what you\u2019d expect to see when you think of New Zealand. Natural hot springs, gourmet restaurants, local friendliness and an abundance of activities make it one of my favourite places for a quick getaway. Located just three-and-a-half hours from Auckland or five hours&hellip; Continue reading 48 hours in Great Lake Taupo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.expedia.co.nz\/stories\/great-lake-taupo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Expedia NZ Stories\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-03-15T05:56:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-04-21T01:37:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.expedia.co.nz\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/13344_113_HT_1280x960.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brian Perkins\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" 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