Epic Round The World Trip Adventures! Stunning Photos & Articles - A fascinating gap year travel journal covering every stop of their journey.

Lake Taupo - New Zealand
Round The World Trip Journal

Text By Jo & Photos By Mike

(30th - 31st May) Lake Taupo & Waitomo Caves
We drove half hour south of Rororua to Taupo on the northern shore of Lake Taupo and checked into a motel right on the lakeside. Despite it being very cold we went paddling in the lake and found it to be quite warm underfoot from the volcanic activity below. We buried our toes in the warm black stones and watched a fantastic sunset across the lake. The following morning, however, the lake was covered in thick cloud. We found a beach of pumice stone and Mike found it hugely entertaining to throw big pieces in and then watch them float – bizarre! As we climbed up out of the valley into the mountains we suddenly broke through the cloud and came to a viewpoint that looked over the big volcanic national park. We were so taken aback by the view – it was stunning and we stood transfixed whilst listening to the strange song of the Tui bird (it has pom poms under its beak!). Driving back westwards towards Auckland we stopped at the Waitomo Caves where we went down into the caves and did a boat trip through the dark to see the hundreds of thousands of gloworms up on the ceiling of the cave. Despite the fact we only had a short time in New Zealand, we really enjoyed it here. The scenery is totally awesome and breathtaking at times. You will never have seen so much greenery in your life. Everything is green: the mountains are covered in trees, the rolling hills are lush with grass and it is picture perfect. Sheep everywhere and hardly any development at all. You can really get away from it all here. We'd love to come back again when its warmer! And then we were off back to Auckland to stay near the airport ready to fly out to Tahiti.

Highlights of our round the world trip:

Stop 1 - Capetown---> The City | Simonstown Penguins | Table Mountain Cable Car | The Waterfront Seals | Windsurf Action.
Stop 2 - West Australia---> Perth City | Perth Zoo | Cohunu Animal Park | Rottnest Island | Rockingham Penguins | Yanchep Park Koalas | Cervantes Pinnacles | Geraldton Windsurfing | Kalbarri Gorge | The Pink Lake | Coronation Beach Windsurfing | Gero Road to Cervantes | Carnarvon Jetty & Quobba Snorkel | Denham Lagoon | Monkey Mia Dolphins | Coral Bay Termite Hills | Coral Bay Quad Biking The Dunes | Exmouth Kangaroos | Mandurah Canals | Margaret River | Margaret River Wine Tour | Margs Windsurfing | Bunbury Windsurf | Bussleton Pier | Towns near Bussleton | Augusta Nature | Pemberton Camping | Pemberton Tall Trees | Cape D'Entrecasteaux | Walpole Tall Trees.
Stop 3 - East Australia---> Cairns Sky Rail Cable Car Over The Rainforest | Mossman Gorge | Cape Tribulation Rainforest | Port Douglas | Daintree Crocodiles | Captain Cook Highway | Beaches Near Cairns | Atherton Tablelands Fig Trees | Bowen Beaches | Airlie Beach | Whitsunday Islands Boat Tour | Great Barrier Reef Snorkel | Whitsunday Snorkelling | Town of 1770 History | Fraser Island Beach Driving | Tin Can Bay Dolphins | Noosa River | Australia Zoo Wombats | Sunshine Coast | Nanango Bush | Gold Coast Beaches | Byron Bay Beaches | Woolgoolga Beaches | Coffs Harbour | Port Macquarie Cafes | Forster Pelicans | Great Lakes | Nelson Bay Dolphins | Sydney By Day | Sydney By Night | Sydney's Manly Beach.
Stop 4 - New Zealand---> Auckland Revolving Restaurant | Rotorua Volcanic National Park | Lake Taupo & Waitomo Glow Worms.
Stop 5 - French Polynesia---> Tahiti Island Waterfalls | Moorea Island Water Bungalows | Moorea Shark Feeding | Bora Bora Island Buggying.
Stop 6 - Hawaii, Maui---> Maui Snorkel Videos | Maui Snorkel Photography | Maui Windsurfing | Maui East Coast Hana Highway | Maui North Beaches 1 | Maui North Beaches 2 | Maui West Coast Surfing | Maui South West Lava Fields | Haleakala Volcano.
Stop 7 - Hawaii, Oahu---> Kailua Beaches | Round Oahu Island Drive | Honolulu Pearl Harbour | Oahu Snorkel Videos.
Stop 8 - West USA---> Los Angeles City Tour | Venice Beach | Long Beach | Queen Mary Tour | San Onofre Surfing | Route 66 Drive | Las Vegas Casinos | Grand Canyon.
Stop 9 - East USA---> Miami Beach Art Deco.
Stop 10 - UK, HOME---> Back To Heathrow, Bringing To A Close Our Amazing Round The World Trip.