Tagaytay and Taal - a day trip from Manila

Tagaytay is 2 hours from Manila and makes for an excellent day trip or a weekend getaway. It is the gateway to Taal Lake and Volcano. The city is a popular summer tourist destination because of its cool climate due to its high altitude.

Tagaytay also offers a view of Taal Lake - a lake within an island within a lake.

So we drove from Manila to Tagaytay, We then took a boat across the lake to the Island where the volcano is located. Once we got into the tiny boat, we were asked to cover ourselves with a plastic sheet. I was wondering why..............only to find out in a bit. The water was choppy and as our boat zipped through it, the spray was all over us. Luckily, I had followed their instructions and had covered myself. Not that it mattered as it was quite hot and we would have been dried up in no time.

Taal Lake is a freshwater lake in the province of Batangas, on the island of Luzon, Philippines. The lake is situated within a caldera formed by very large eruptions between 500,000 and 100,000 years ago. It is the country's third largest lake (the largest being Laguna de Bay). Volcano Island, the location of Taal Volcano's historical eruptions and responsible for the lake's sulfuric content, lies near the center of the lake. There is a crater lake on Volcano Island, which is in Lake Taal, which is located on Luzon Island. That crater lake is the world's largest lake on an island in a lake on an island, and it in turn contains its own small island, Vulcan Point.

Source: Wikipedia

  

The Taal Volcano

You can either walk or take a pony!

The Caldera with mineral deposits.

The view from the top. 

Back to Tagaytay

The pretty local boats

Lake Taupo

Lake Taupo is the largest freshwater lake in the Southern Hemisphere. It is as large as the island of Singapore. It is surrounded by stunning volcanoes, bush clad mountains and spectacular landscape. The water is stunningly blue, the air fresh and unpolluted, the town bustling with cafes and shopping, and plenty of activities for the visitor make it a great weekend getaway.

We had booked ourselves in the Suncourt Hotel which overlooked the lake. With a view like ours, we had no choice but to have dinner on the patio. Breakfast was also on the patio. We could not get over the beauty of the lake.

We took a cruise on this cat!

The Maori Rock carving can only be reached by boat.

Maori Rock carving:
In the late 1970s master carver Matahi Whakataka-Brightwell came to his mother's land at Lake Taupō. On a boat trip around the Western Bays he saw the cliffs at Mine Bay and decided to use them as a canvas for his work. Matahi decided to carve a likeness of Ngatoroirangi, a visionary Maori navigator who guided the Tuwharetoa and Te Arawa tribes to the Taupō area over a thousand years ago. In recognition of the multi-cultural nature of New Zealand, Matahi also carved two smaller figures of Celtic design, which depict the south wind and a mermaid. The Ngatoroirangi carving took four summers to complete and the carvers took no payment other than donations to cover the cost of the scaffolding. The carving has become an important cultural attraction for the region and is a wonderful gift to the local people and visitors alike.

This reminded me of the fjords in Norway.

Came across this aircraft which is actually part of the McDonald's restaurant!!