Finn MacCuhals; Taupos finest

Finn MacCuhal’s is Taupos favorite bar.

They were kind enough to host, water and put us up in exchange for a weekend of madness. We happily agreed and became the live, in-house entertainment.

For those of you who have not been to Taupo before, it is the tourism hub for the North Island. An hour an a half to the ski fields and a little less to Rotorua.

The town itself is right on the lake front with some of the most spectacular scenery in the country and far too many activities to keep one well occupied for at least a week.

We spent the Friday and Saturday evenings bringing the party to the balcony. Inside there is room for 2-300 people to get down with their awesome house DJ, Damien.

On Friday night Steve and Blair gave up their instruments so that the boys from Palmerston North group ‘Affluvium’ could reunite and jam for half an hour.

Daytime was spent on one of the many golf courses available. We went to Tauhara golf course, hired a cart for $40 and spent the round raging through the course, I mean playing golf. One of the great things about Taupo is that it is one of the Bay of Plentys many thermal ‘wonderlands’. The course has many thermal vents to navigate that can make for some tricky go-carting I mean golfing.

Big shout out to Disco, Lorraine and the crew for showing us what hospitality really is. They really did look after us and clearly we really enjoyed our time there.

If you are out and about in Taupo, go to Finns, check out their impressive menu and have a beer at one of the gnarliest establishments in the North Island.

Make sure you stick around to long enough to see the house band and then grab a room upstairs at the backpackers to save a taxi fare.