I'm glad I put the tarp over my tent last night because it sure rained hard. I got up and made breakfast and talked to Marcel and Vivian again. Them and another couple were worried about me in the rain last night but I was fine. I packed up and headed south to Turangi. The drive was pretty as it went all along the east side of Lake Taupō and I listened to the news about the earthquake on the radio. I pulled into to small town and it was bucketing, I decided I wasn't going to do anything substantial.
I ended up walking through the city center and found a few fishing shops. I walked into Sporting Life and talked to one of the employees about the river. I forgot I had gotten a contact while I was at the museum in Taupō for someone at this shop named Andrew. That's who I ended up talking to and he gave me some prices for hiring gear and showed me where to go on the map. He said he'd be down at the river around 6 and that I could come by and check it out.
I left and walked to the I-site visitors center for some more information about the town. After, I wanted to find some wifi and it seemed like the only place to go was Burger King. I hung out there for maybe a few hours and then went to find a holiday park. The first one I went to wasn't that great so I checked out the other one in town. It was better. I made a late lunch and watched a Maori style dance-off show on tv. The goal was to fuse Haka (a Maori dance) with modern dance. I relaxed at the park for a bit and then headed down to the river.
I met Andrew and one of the other older guys from the shop showed up with his dog. We walked down to the river and found that it was super high because of the recent rainfall. Andrew had the only rod so he did most of the casting but didn't hit on anything. We all left after a bit and I went back to the holiday park kitchen to make lists of what I want to do on the South Island. Bed.
