A lot of what our experience in Taupo was about can be attributed to
the power of great architecture. Here's what happened: we
had reservations at a place called Lake Taupo Lodge. When we got
there, we were greeted by a couple who we didn't have the best vibes
about. They had some nice rooms in a wing of their house with a
good view down to the lake - but then it turned out that the internet
wouldn't work there, and we had specificially requested that
(duh!!!). He gave us the option then of a crummy room in the back
of the house, and when we told him that just wouldn't work for us and
sorry but we would be leaving, he got very huffy and wanted to charge
us for the whole night (even though we were the only people staying
there the whole night). It wasn't pretty. We actually had
to leave while he was still arguing with us - mid-sentence.
So this was our first attempt at a
night's-approaching-lodging-scramble. And after checking in with
three other places... we found it! Heaven at Taupo. It
turned out to be a Clarion Suite hotel - but a brand new concept for
them, or anyplace else like it we'd ever seen. It was brand new
and had opened just 3 months before. It was called "Sacred
Waters" - and here is the web site: http://www.sacredwaters.co.nz/
Every unit is actually an apartment for sale, and indeed many of them
had sold already. They were ultra-modern, and felt very
European. We were in a two bedroom, two bath that was in the
second building back from the lake - we could have lived in it quite
happily for years. Quiet colors, spacious, and extemely
reasonably priced for what it was. And here's our lake view:
and from within the apartment...
our building, as seen from the other building closer to the lake...
Now here's one of the most amazing parts of the story. They use
the hot (HOT!!!) water from the thermal springs throughout the area to
heat the apartments in the winter using it as radiant heat under the
floors. And each unit had one of these giant stainless steel bath
tubs outside in a private nook of the deck - that draws its hot water
from the thermal springs. The tubs are about 7- 8 feet square,
and unlike a hot tub, you drain them after each use, so it's clean
every time. And the water doesn't even have any sulfur smell or
anything.
Here was our view when we used it the first time...
And one more thing about the Sacred Waters - they have a lap pool that
also uses the hot thermal water - divine! Here you can see it
from our deck...
Oh, and by the way, it was worth our finding Internet access that night
- great night of trading! We call this trip "Pay As You
Go". And it's working (-:
Everyone says "Oh you'll love the south island even more" - but if we
don't find someplace else that speaks to us like this place did, we
could see coming back here for a month before heading up to Australia.
There's a really long walk at the lakefront, and it's amazing to see
kids sitting in hot pools that felt too hot for us to even put our
hands into. And the black swans love hanging out just outside
these areas, just between the warm and cool waters. Here's a
little movie of the lakeside...
12/16/2006 5:19 AM
Moe wrote:
Both your email are not workiing. They are bouncing back wiht the following errors - failure notice when trying to email ; and mr@podsweb.com The user does not accept email in non-Western (non-Latin) character sets. Reply to this
12/16/2006 1:04 PM
Ghislaine wrote:
The sunsets gave me the shivers for their beauty. I could live there too. Last night Bowie called me. I asked him how he was and he said in a beautiful positive tone :"fantastic'. that gave me the shivers also. What a success story !!!. He sounded so good that I wanted to hug him through the phone. The next time you visit the boys, I would like to fly with you. OK ?? Continue to have a wonderful time. I love you, your MOM. Reply to this
