The trip in the rain back to the beautiful Taupo on the shores of the massive crater lake that is the size of Singapore was short and sweet and we stopped yet again at the wonderful Huka falls (mentioned these on the trip up) on the Waikato River. Fortunately for me I had managed to get a lovely photo of the lake on my trip up when the sun was shining so the yucky weather was not too big a deal. Jessica and I waited for a break in the weather once we got to the hostel so that we could make a dash to the supermarket for a top as we were running low on food. Luckily for us we managed to sneak out between the showers unlike one of our fellow travellers who was less lucky and for drenched. As the weather continued for the rest of the evening we decided to stay in and play cards after dinner which as always was good fun especially when Adam from Canada joined in & kept us company till midnight.
We were going to do the Tongariro crossing (an awesome 19km hike over volcano craters used in the Lord of the Rings) but Jessica was having issues with her hip & I decided that I was not fit enough which was just as well as it was cancelled due to the rubbish weather. So much better to have made a decision that I was comfortable with to not do it, rather than be told sorry - no can do. So we thought that we'd do laundry instead. Ha ha. What fun huh?? Well actually we had a little lie in & then after laundry when the weather cleared we did go for a walk for a couple of hours along the stunning Waikato River which was not quite 19km's but I'd say we still would have managed to do about 8km's so still good.
We then woke up early yet again the following day to go for yet another incredible drive with the same driver that we had in Paihia back to Wellington up to Mount Victoria to see the stunning views of Wellington. Our poor driver who was new and was filling in for a guy who had to go to a funeral took the corner on the way up to Mount Victoria to sharply and met up with the traffic light which put a nice ugly hole and crack in one of the windows. Shame, poor guy. Not the way you want to start off but there we go. One of those them things.
I had the pleasure of being taken to the Te Papa musuem & shown Wellington by night by my Kiwi friend Jeremy who I used to work with way back when at MFUK. He treated me to drinks and a vegan burger which was most pleasurable - local is always lekker - but of course time does fly when you are having fun so I did get to bed very late which did not make my 6.30am wake up call to catch the ferry to Picton across the Cook Straight & Marlborough Sounds much fun.
Once on the ferry we opted to watch a movie for the 1st 2 hours of the trip and then spent the last hour marvelling at the stunning Marlborough Sounds at the top of the South Islands. Just stunning. Needless to say the trip from Picton to Nelson was not very eventful as I was feeling a little tired. It seems that the night before ferry trips are always super late ones & given that my final ferry trip will be on the 1st of Jan I have no doubt that it will follow an awfully late one too. Fun fun fun :-)
