Swallowed by Lake Taupo

No pictures today - we had a lovely and kinda late start, eating at a restaurant in Rotorua called Capers which had a *delicious* breakfast. We enjoyed our food and then headed to a place called Amokura Glass Studio. Amokura Glass Studio is, you guessed it, a Glass Studio based in Rotorua. You pass it pretty frequently actually heading into and out of town (at least in one direction.) We rolled up and just asked if we could watch and hang out. It was the two of us and the Owner Heather Kremen. She had two folks doing a photoshoot in the back (we couldn't see) for her Christmas catalogue, so they popped in occasionally, but mostly it was just us three. Sarah and I watching Heather work. She was really cool - she took the time to explain what she was doing, chatted with us about other stuff, and knocked out several glass items in the short time we were there. Honestly, her work is amazing. I really wish I could bring something home with me, but I'm already struggling with what I have, there's no way I could pack a glass...anything into my bag. (I was obsessed with this purple hanging lamp shade - just gorgeous!) Probably could have taken pictures of her work, but I enjoyed just sitting and watching honestly. After, we drove to Lake Taupo. We had a brief stop at a scenic overlook, but quickly moved closer to the lake. We found a place by the lake shore with picnic tables and ducks and seagulls all begging Sarah and I for our snacks we brought from Capers. We managed to not be harrassed and eat our things in peace, and enjoyed overlooking the lake on a pretty nice day. Nice and Windy. The reason we were in this region today of Lake Taupo is because we were going kayaking. I'm not a strong kayaker, but we wanted to see a carving a Maori carver had made on one of the lakes cliffs. And we could have taken a ferry, but being in the kayak let us get *right* on top of it. But first we had to get there. The wind really made the trip difficult. It was two people per kayak (except our guide) and there was 6 of us (plus him.) The people in the back, which I said I'd be happy to do (regret) were also in charge of a rudder. And I swear, our rudder refused to turn so that we could head right. I had to work so hard - and part of it was because the wind kept pushing us left, but it was ridiculous. But somehow despite being really bad at rights, one of the girls being kinda bad at holding her paddle, and several bumper kayaks with said same girl and her kayak, we managed to defeat the wind and waves and make our way to a much calmer section of lake which then led us to the carving! This thing is not ancient - but it IS cool, and done with traditional tools. It's like 3 stories tall? And I felt like it could open up the cliff and swallow us hole. I think it is so fricking cool. I could have stared for so long. But we were in kayaks. So we turned around, kayaked back around the lake (yeah, we did all this work to see one giant carving and a handful of smaller ones surrounding it), had a nice stop for tea and biscuits, then kayaked some more until we were back to our in point. We kept pretty dry, surprisingly, but that doesn't mean the lake didn't try. It tried. One particularly big wave would have drenched us if not for the kayak skirt. But no one capsized, and we all made it back to shore. It was the whole afternoon, and by the time we were back in our cars it was....6:30? not bad. We headed back to Rotorua to have dinner at a place called Atticus Finch where we had some more amazing food. (I'm not kidding, so many New Zealand places are just....the food is all good. It's not fair.) Had a hot alcoholic beverage (I did get a little swamped when getting out of the kayak - I had taken the skirt off, but a wave knocked into us right as I was trying to stand and it absolutely got me. I had a change of clothes but come on. Rude lake!) So the hot beverage helped. Shared some plates, and left the happening spot of Rotorua to head back to our airbnb. This place has been my least favorite so far (there are so many knickknacks. SO. MANY. I feel swarmed honestly.) (And it feels crowded, and we park a bit away because there's no space for us to park at the bnb but. We're leaving tomorrow!) Sarah re-packed and I am saving that for the morning. Goodnight! Tomorrow we go to Auckland, and that's when the real beginning of the end.....begins.....