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Published: February 4th 2013
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We left the beaurtiful lakes around Taupo on Tues morning 29th Jan and headed North towards Tauranga. We stopped half way at a nice little camp site with a pool (and only $48 per night for a little caravan with a well equipped shared kitchen etc) and got all of our laundry done.
The next morning we made our way to Rich and Vicki's lovely house just outside Tauranga in some un-pronouncable town! Whakwhakamara or something!
Rich, Vicki, Emily and Josh and Vicki's Mum Sue, the two dogs Gizi and Maggie and the cat made us really welcome in their beautiful house.... thanks Sue for giving up your bedroom for a couple of nights!!
The tour of the house and garden included a look around his fully liveried police traffic car which is parked in his garage!! A 5 litre Holden with all the trimmings.... Some company car!!
That afternoon we walked up Mount Manganui which is no mean feat! Although we were overtaken by numerous joggers on route to the top..... some even went passed us more than once. The views from the summit were awesome and we spent some time wandering around the promenade around
Mt Maganui. Rich did a lovely BBQ that evening. His house is right next to the beach in a great location.
The following day Rich and Vicki took us and Sue out for the day. First stop was a real Maori village on the edge of Rotorua. The place was amazing with numerous hot water springs around the village which the locals had adapted to use for cooking and heating. Even the drains had smoke billowing out of them as the water below was boiling. The only draw back was the awefull smell of ... but it was a fascinating place and somewhere that we woiuld never have found if we had not had the local guides.
The next stop was a trip to Lake Tarawera and the blue and green lakes. The scenery was beautiful and all this within an hour of Rich's house! No wonder he loves it over here! We were completely gob smacked by the natural beauty of the place.
After a brief stop at the gardens in Taupo we visited a tourist attraction on the outskirts of the town that included an old traditional Maori village. We were fortunate enough to see
a show that included a Maori Haka.
We wandered around the grounds and saw the most amazing geysers, mud pools, hot springs and other examples of geo thermal activity.....wasthe sight of water erupting from a hole in the ground simply awesome!
This was some busy day and once we got home Rich arranged a boys fishing trip with his mate 'Ash'... Annie tried to get on the trip and had even managed to pack a bottle of wine in her rucksack but after 6 weeks of her company I needed some boys time and this really met my needs!!! Ash had a fine boat and he supplied the rods, bait etc.... we brought the bottles of beer!
The fishing was good just off Omokoroa and we caught about a dozen small'ish snappers.... the company was even better and we had a few beers and a right laugh.
Thanks Ash and Rich!! It was one of the highlights of my trip.
The following day we packed our bags, said goodbye and headed back to Auckland airport ready for the next leg of our adventure. We had loads of time and went the scenic route to Auckland.
We checked into the Ibis hotel at the airport and handed back the hire car covered in dust and muck but the Toyota had served us well and we had done over 3,300km on our trip.
We did our laundery and sorted out the back packs ready for the flight to Coolangatta early the next morning.
The 5am alarm was a shock (and a reminder of our work days!) and we made our way to the check in.
Looking back we have some great memories of our time here in New Zealand.... Milford Sound, the whale watching, magnificent mountains and scenery, hot springs and waterfalls, the sadness at Christchurch, and meeting some lovely people.
New Zealand is an awesome place, the scenery was spectacular, full of natural beauty where the people are really friendly and we simply loved it. We have seen a lot of the country during the previous 6 weeks but still we haven't scratched the surface of this amazing place. We will go back some day ......
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