Police at the scene where the two bodies were discovered. Video / Laurilee McMichael
Revellers were seen partying in hot pools on the shores of Lake Taupō 12 hours before two bodies were discovered in the water by a walker today.
A local man who was at the lake last night said around 7.30pm he walked past two women and a man, who appearedto be intoxicated, at the popular Hot Water Beach spot.
Police are today trying to work out how two people died. Their bodies were discovered, submerged in the water, around 7am.
The local man, who did not want to be named, said one of the women in the group was sitting in a car that remained parked up at the same lakeside spot this morning, close to the crime scene.
He saw one woman emerge from a pool wrapped in a towel while the man was dangling his legs in the hot water.
"We'd finished our swim. We heard the noise and we jumped in the car and headed to where it was coming from. It was a horrible whiny noise," he said. "By the time we got there the cops were leaving."
He watched the group continue to party loudly, after the police left.
"You could still hear them in the water. They were yelling because they were drunk.
"We saw them sculling a bottle as we drove in a second time."
When he learned of the double deaths this morning he was left feeling numb.
"I was very sad, very bummed-out actually.
"My wife was saying we should have done more but what could we do?"
Investigations are underway after two bodies were discovered on the shore of Lake Taupō this morning. Photo / Laurilee McMichael
Police remain at the lake as investigations continue into the deaths.
A tent was erected over a thermally-heated rock pool where the bodies were discovered.
Police said they were working to establish the identity of the mystery pair.
