Day 180 New Zealand, Hutt to Lake Taupo.

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Hi Everyone,



We woke up to a load of people outside our van all getting ready for a run; we unfortunately didn’t have the energy!!



We had a quick breakfast of cereal then headed off to our next destination of Tongariro.



This was a long drive around 400km!! We still had the issue with our grey water tank (grey water funnels into the shower room making it stink, and also leaks out onto the ground outside!) so on the way we phoned up Britz and they agreed that we could get into trouble if the tank keeps emptying into the street so they said to stay at a site with cooking and shower facilities and they would reimburse it when we return the van.



We first drove to Tongariro as we wanted to do the Alpine Crossing, we found a nice holiday park which was in the perfect location for a $30 shuttle to take us to the start of the walk, it was expensive but Britz were paying. However the walks were cancelled tomorrow due to the 60+km winds L.



We decided to drive into Taupo as it was only an hour away and then we could always drive back once the weather improved.



On the drive into Taupo there was a look out point over the Lake which was amazing; we met a Chinese couple there and gave them some advice about the South Island and the campervan as they had the same as us and seemed a little unsure about things.



Once into Taupo we found a really nice site, one of the Top 10 NZ ones, however it was quite far out of the town and it didn’t have any WIFI, so we went to our second choice one. It was not the best and was unpowered but had a kitchen (it was filthy), hot showers (bit less filthy) and more importantly free Wi-Fi.



We spoke to a few French lads staying there. One of the French guys and myself helped the owner move some furniture to a lock up. (We didn’t get much of a thank you or anything for it, plus he was quite rude about it).



After we had Vicky’s lemon chicken for dinner (tasted funny as the chicken was a day over its due date and had a smell about it) we had one of our bottles of wine bought from one of the vineyards; we chilled in the van and watched the film ‘Edge of Tomorrow’, it was pretty good!!!



Love N&V X

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