Sorry didnt get to write a blog again last night or the night before. We were a little busy (or in some sense lazy).
We got up early to get to the bus station, happily we got there in time and didnt have long to wait (about the time it takes to drink coffee and each cheese toasties) before we were off to the largest volcanic eruption site on earth.
Taupo is breathtaking. If you look at google earth at the centre of the north island you will see a massive lake. Taupo is on the east side of this, just below Rotorua. That lake used to be a large volcanoe. When it exploded it was so powerful that the chinese and the romans even wrote about it causing the sky to go red and dark for several months and the temmors were felt as far back as the UK and France. Its still a live volcanoe... I think next time it goes pop we could have 3 large islands instead of 2. The lake is also surrounded by lots of smaller volcanoes that can be seen in the distance. All of them are active or dormant and are fed by the same caldera so if one goes, they will most likely all go. I am beginning to think the people who live here are actually a little insane, as pretty as it is.
Anyway, we got here on wednesday lunchtime. We found some lunch and then went up to the Du Bretts spa to sit in the mineral water hot pools. They have private pools which are varying temperatures so we wandered through those to find the temperature we liked, then we went over to the larger pools and sat in the jaccuzis. They certainly helped Faye's leg which has been complaining ever since the sneezing incident before we came on holiday. We spent about 2 hours in the pools, its not really possible to stay much longer in them without shrivelling to a prune. We got back and had a wander around town. The town itself is nothing special, just the same as anywhere else but the lake is great to walk around.
Yesterday Faye wanted to see the Huka falls. At the Huka Falls, the Waikato River which is normally 100m wide, is squeezed through a 20 metre wide gorge and over a 20m drop. Every second up to 220,000 litres of water gushes through the gorge and shoots out over 8 metres beyond to create a beautful blue/green pool.
Its pretty spectacular and mesmerising to see that much power all at once. It actually provides 15% of NZ power along the Waikato river which runs all the way to Auckland and out to see. We took a shuttle to get there and decided to walk back. It was only supposed to take an hour but Faye managed to take about a million photos on the way so it took a lot longer.
We went straight to the mini golf when we got back for a deciding round. So far I was in the lead with one win and a draw. There were 48 school kids also starting their games so we have to do holes as they became available. We started well on the 1st, then did 10th - 18th, back to 2nd and a lot of waiting around, 4th - 9th and finally the 3rd. I blame this for loosing by 3 points. The school kids we were following, cheated like crazy and one wonderful little creature decided to turn the taps on over hole 10 and create a water hazard. Im glad we did that hole first!
Our bus was late (again - roadworks) but we managed to get back to Auckland just in time for Nik to collect us and take us to dinner at Tanuki's Cave which is a Japaneese restaurant. Nik has throughout this entire holiday been attempting to broaden my pallet. So far Ive eaten Asparagus and Squid rings amongst other things, but Nik was adament that I would try Sashimi (raw fish). I have always avoided sashimi like the plague, why would anyone want to eat raw meat???! Niks mum agreed with us so we let Nik get the sashimi on the agreement that we would all try a bit. It tasted OK but I still dont like the texture and I would never order it for myself. Not when there is Katsu ar Tereaki available.
Today is our last day, Tonight we go to the airport and fly out at 1.30am on Saturday and arrive at 6.30 pm on Saturday. We've gotten up late and are milling about packing and sorting ourselves out. Hopefully Heathrow will be open and we can get home. We both miss the kitties and cant wait to see everyone. Judith told me this morning that weve had 5 inches of snow back in Wherwell so that will be fun to drive home in on Sunday. Glad I dont have a work to be in on Monday! Will do that paperwork in a nice warm house thats been piling up methinks.
Sadly we didnt get to meet up with Nigel and Lisa in Napier, but then we ran out of time. Its hard to fit everything in. We definately need to be rich enough to just charter planes everywhere then we will have loads more time. Something else to add to the goal board!
Will let you all know when we have landed safely back in Blighty. Love you all and see you soon
Tui and Kiwi xxx
