Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
22
Saluté
B2
Drinking & Nightlife
23
Finn MacCuhal's
B2
24
Jolly Good Fellows
C3
25
Vine Eatery & Bar
B2
Entertainment
26
Great Lake Centre
B2
27
Starlight Cinema Centre
B2
Sights
Taupo Museum
MUSEUM
(
www.taupo.govt.nz/museum
; Story Pl; adult/child $5/free; 10am-4.30pm)
With an excellent
Maori gallery and quirky displays, which include a 1960s caravan set up as if the occu-
pants have just popped down to the lake, this little museum makes an interesting rainy-
day diversion. The centrepiece is an elaborately carved Maori meeting house, Te Aroha o
Rongoheikume. Set up in a courtyard, the 'Ora Garden of Wellbeing' is a re-creation of
NZ's gold-medal-winning entry into the 2004 Chelsea Flower Show. Historical displays
cover local industries, a mock-up of a 19th-century shop and a moa skeleton, and there's
also a gallery devoted to local and visiting exhibitions. Don't miss the rose garden along-
side.
Maori Rock Carvings
CARVINGS
Accessible only by boat, these 10m-high carvings were etched into the cliffs near Mine
Bay by carver Matahi Whakataka-Brightwell in the late 1970s. They depict Ngatoro-i-
rangi, the visionary Maori navigator who guided the Tuwharetoa and Te Arawa tribes to
the Taupo area a thousand years ago. See the Watersports section (
Click here
)
and Tours
section (
Click here
)
for companies that arrange trips.
Huka Falls
WATERFALL
