Thursday 21st June 2007

As it rained all night we guessed the skydiving I'd hoped to do here would be off and so we would have to think of other things to see and do in Lake Taupo.

We got out of bed at about 7.30am this morning as we wanted to head into town to see if we could find an internet connection. We had to do it before 9am because that would be 10pm the previous night in the UK and that's when Mum and Keith go to bed. So, I made us some cuppas, packed up the van and we were off...

There was an internet connection for us... outside a camping shop of all places, (thanks to the staff at Gordon's for not protecting their signal), so we had a Skype call with home and then went to Tourist Information to find out what there was to do on rainy days (we were right, skydiving was off the menu). But first we sat in the car park and ate some Bran Flakes as we'd left in such a rush, we'd missed breakfast!

We started by walking down to the edge of Lake Taupo - it was huge and looked really pretty because the sun was starting to come out. All the water in New Zealand seems to be a really nice crystal blue and it was crazy to think that something this size was formed by a volcanic eruption!

Next, we jumped in the van and drove to the viewing point of the Huka Falls where we stopped for some pictures and then moved further on to a place called the Honey Hive. This place was pretty unique - everything was made, onsite, from Bee's honey (which they have in the back of the store). You could buy things like face creams, body lotions, different natural honey's etc. Me and Nikki just had a honey ice-cream.

When we were done at the Honey Hive we moved on to a place called the Craters of the Moon, which, as the name suggests, is full of craters. These are made because under the surface is high pressured water, which is bubbling away until it needs to escape and then just blows huge holes in the floor... pretty cool stuff!

We'd seen pretty much everything we wanted to see, (well, what the weather would let us), in Lake Taupo and so figured we'd move on. Whilst Nikki went into the supermarket to get some supplies, I had a look at the map to see where we could go next. It's crazy - there are so many places we want to see, but don't really have the time... we're doing our best though.

I said to Nikki that I fancied driving down the Volcanic Loop to see Mount Ruapehu. When we were about an hour into the journey I said I quite fancied climbing it if we could, so Nikki got her book out to do some investigating. What i'd failed to realise earlier was that, being Winter, the mountain was going to be covered in snow and it was only recommended that you attempt to climb it if you have vast experience in climbing and using a snow axe... d'oh!

We decided to carry on in the direction we were heading and we'd find a camp for the night before traveling over to Napier in the morning. The scenery was stunning! Everything just seemed to unfold in front of us - with mountains rising up from what looked like a desert - it was beautiful. When we got to Ohakune, (the gateway to the National Park), the weather was pretty bad and so I suggested we drive over to Napier tonight - it didn't look far on the map... Oooopps!

The road over from the Volcanic Loop was nothing like anything we've EVER seen before. We couldn't really appreciate the scenery as it was pitch black. but it took us up into the highest of hills and down into the lowest of valleys - the worst thing was when we were driving on the edge of a cliff and the tarmac road below was replaced by gravel tracks. We were terrified! With the wind really blowing, every turn felt like we could skid out of control plus there was no radio signal so the only noises were from Nikki... "Slow down!", "Watch the corner!", What was that?" plus the normal "I feel sick" and "I'm hungry".

We finally got to Napier at just after 8pm and so what would have taken one-and-a-half hours from Lake Taupo, had we come direct, in fact took us... nearly 5 HOURS! Oh well, it's all part of the experience I suppose.

After all that, Napier had better be special!

Happy Birthday Mummy June!