Was the best and worst of times at Lake Taupo

Our first outing at a DOC (Department of Conservation) campsite was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. We stayed in Wentworth Valley which has amazing walks and just good fresh air really. Had a great sleep and a fantastic run in the morning, but I must be honest and add that my fat ass couldn't even make it to the waterfalls i was running towards. I did see an old lady trip over some rocks and fall on her face, but sorry Celia, this time it was not my fault.

Once Celia had packed up the tent (damn she's getting good), we headed towards Rotorua. I'm sure you've all heard of it, has all these natural springs and geysers (not the British type). On the way to Taupo we passed a South African shop where we had a long chat to the lady that ran it about all the usual suspects and walked away with some biltong, aromat and boerwors. Let me just say that that was the worst biltong I have ever eaten. It was like they had cooked it a bit cause they couldn't get it it to dry - still ate it though, lol.

Once we got to Rotorua, the stench of the sulphur in the air permeated our car and helped us come to a conclusion where we would spend the evening, not there! So we carried on to Lake Taupo and were pleased. It has a great feel to it and to add to the feel, I could get some fly fishing done. On our way we had an unfortunate incident with a truck, a rock and our windscreen though, which caused a very large crack to appear. This crack was seemingly heading towards my face from the base of the windscreen at a rate of knots which by the end of the day would have covered enough distance for our excess clause on our insurance contract to kick in. Damn..

We found this free campsite (Reid's Farm) along the Waikato river which happens to be NZ's longest river and pitched our tent for the night. What a beautiful place, from the bank I could see the trout swimming, tucked up against the opposite bank. I can't describe the colour of this water, and I'm sure none of my pictures will do it justice, but it was unbelievable, like it had flown from some tropical ocean. Unfortunately it was only about 10deg and the current was huge, so not much swimming going on.

You have to remember though, when you stay at a free campsite you cannot expect exemplary behavior or clean toilets, any for that matter.. and this evening was no exception. We only got a few hours sleep and were pretty cranky when we woke up. I decided to run to Huka Falls, which are the largest falls on the Waikato River, to wake myself up. Great run, and I felt loads better after so I drove into town to fetch milk for the morning bowl of Sultana Bran and find out about trout fishing.

On the way there and back, the car broke down twice and on the second occasion I couldn't get it back into gear from (P)ark. Celia and I came to an executive decision to try and get another car as we weren't happy with this one from the start. It took the entire day for the AA to come out and the hire company to come to some conclusion. They decided, and I think they were only trying to get rid of me, that they would come and pick up the car and give us a full refund if we were able to get a new one in Taupo. Praise the lord, we were only too pleased and a better result than we expected, especially with that windscreen going the way it was.

Got a great little 1800 Toyota Corolla for the rest of the trip from 'Rent a Dent' hire company. Doesn't instill much confidence, but it'll be better than the last I'm sure. Unfortunately we had now wasted a day in Taupo doing nothing and with our whole trip in NZ only being 3 weeks, one day was precious time to play with. We settled for that free campsite again and would set off in the morning.

One thing I must add which unfortunately cannot be captured on camera is that I went for a swim in the river that evening. The water was so cold that i knocks you breath right out your chest and trying to keep up in that current required my strongest stroke just to stay in the same spot. Celia was killing herself laughing at me swimming full tilt just to try stay in the same spot..