What if we told you... that hidden deep in the Taupo region, a small track kept just out of sight leads the curious among us to a secret lagoon with water that is so crystal clear, you can see right through to the floor? Somewhere with thriving green plants everywhere and flourishing birdlife rarely seen anywhere else?
A place talked about by so few, and known-of by even less that up until recently it’s location was almost unascertainable...
We’re talking of course about the Lost Lagoon of Kuratau!
Kuratau is a small village on the west shore of Lake Taupo. For us, staying in Whakapapa Village, getting there meant driving for just under an hour. Despite being fairly close however it’s unlikely we’d ever end up in Kuratau without the recommendation we received from colleagues; the fact that it’s not mentioned much in travel guides means it stays under the radar most of the time and for that same reason, many people are missing out on this great place. Luckily for you guys - we’ve decided to share it with you so you don’t have to!
Before we do that though, let’s go back a little to one of the short walks we did earlier in the week. The reason being, this particular walk is so short and convenient yet extremely worthwhile that it would be crazy not to mention it! So what could possibly be so important that it has to get in the way of reading about the lost lagoon? (We know you’re thinking it) well...
As we’re still generally talking about Tongariro National Park region we should point out that waiting by the entrance to the Park is a 5 minute track that will take you to a viewpoint that overlooks the whole area. There are 3 main mountains in Tongariro National Park: Ngauruhoe, Ruapehu and Tongariro, and possibly one of the only places that you can get a good view of all three together is from a small detour called the Mounds Walk. It’s as if the mounds were created to say “welcome to Tongariro... here’s a visual map of the area to get you started.”
In actual fact there are several theories to justify how the mounds came about, such as being caused by Ruapehu’s most recent eruption, or as a result of melting glaciers, or even simply due to a debris avalance. Whatever the real story, these mounds were eventually turned into a quarry which supplied materials to build and maintain the local roads. One of these roads cuts right through the mounds meaning that you can see the composition of the land around you. It’s many layers show how the ground was formed thousands of years ago, but of course the main reason for going would be to check out the area before you enter it. So there we go - if you fancy learning a little history about Tongariro and want to familiarise yourself with the terrain before heading into the park, why not stop at the mounds walk - you’ll be glad you did.
Ok, so now can we get back to talking about the lagoon? After all, that’s what you came here for right? Go on then... like we were saying, the location of the Lost Lagoon has been barely known up until now but still, we can’t take credit for finding it ourselves because it has already been shared by a young Kiwi traveller called Alex Gillespie - if you check out his page LUCIDKIWI you’ll find directions to where you need to go.
“But is it any good??” You say...
Firstly, getting there isn’t quite as straight forward as it seems. We had to do a little driving around to find the location before we finally found where we needed to be. We knew we were in the area thanks to the hydro pipes nearby but at the same time, nothing around gave us the impression that this was somewhere we’d want to be... so it’s time for a little secret: there is a bit of confusion as to where to park if you follow the directions given. In fact we were driving around for so long that we started to doubt if the Lost Lagoon was even real. Was it a joke? Surely not - more than one person had said they had been there...
We reminded ourselves that we are good friends with people that claim to have been here so with that in mind, we ditched the car on the right side of the road (not the left as instructed), started walking and hoped for the best. The secret is to follow the stream. Don’t worry about making any wrong turns because you’ll get to see some great views if you do. After heading into a forest we were at the lagoon in no time at all.
How would we describe the lagoon then? Like a dream? A paradise? A place where mermaids would gather? How about all of them things! The pool in front of us was the brightest shade of blue, surrounded by beautiful trees that hung over the water and rock formations that rose up around the sides creating platforms to admire the scene.
The lagoon is very deep and as clear as glass so if you don’t mind the cold, it would make a great place to swim, offering a few different places from which you could jump in. If it wasn’t for the fact that we can’t handle the cold then we could have got some incredible underwater videos. The Lost Lagoon of Kuratau is indeed one of the hidden gems within New Zealand and we made sure to spend a long time there, repeatedly gazing upon the perfectly still water that was only disturbed occasionally by a fish or two.
When a couple more people showed up and we no longer had the lagoon to ourselves, we decided it was time to leave. We were so lucky to have something this amazing to ourselves that we thought we’d let somebody else experience the same as us. It was one of those things you can’t help but look back over your shoulder as you leave. Soon we arrived at the car and still with some daylight left, we set the GPS to another of Kuratau’s short walks.
Scenic Rock Face Over River
It seems like this third location hasn’t got round to being named yet. For Sabina the title was slightly confusing and gave her some false excitement because of the term ‘rock-face’. As you can imagine, she was slighly disappointed when she didn’t see an actual face in the cliffs. The fact that Sabina is foreign and has never heard of the term ‘rock-face’ meant nothing to Liam though as he laughed away like any supportive boyfriend. I’m sure Sabina will remind him of this when he gets stuck with the Czech language!
So what is it?... Situated in the Whiowhio Recreational Area, Kuratau village, this short walk follows the river down to a point where cliffs overlook the water. At the time we went (April) the water was nice and shallow, allowing us to see imprints left on the floor by eels and fish. Following it upstream will take you to where the scenic rock face. It’s actually the area in general that makes the place scenic as opposed to the cliffs but it’s something a little different to what you would be used to seeing. Again, it’s nothing incredible, but if you happen to be in the area and would like a gentle walk to see some untouched features of the land, then this is a pleasant way to spend half an hour.
So there we have it, the not-so-secret lost lagoon. For us it was definitely one of the highlights to our week, and for anyone that passes by the west shore of Lake Taupo we truly have to recommend it to you. We also haven’t forgotten that this would not have been possible if not for the tip-off from our colleagues at the Chateau, and also if not for Alex’s blog which not only gave us the directions we needed, but also got us super excited for the trip which really made our week... that was until of course, it got even better - but you’ll have to read next week’s article to find out why ;)
Up next: How our week got even better