The Travel Blog of Dafydd and Alison: 11/08/07

Our 1.3l automatic, Nissan Starlet rental car was delivered to the door on Saturday morning and we left for Taupo and eventually Masterton at around noon. It was great to have the freedom of a car again after not having had one for over a year. We planned to drive down to visit Daf's mum's cousins, who stay on a seep station east of Masterton, near a little village called Tinui, in 2 days, staying in Taupo for one night to break up the drive.

The roads were fairly good, although once we got off SH1 and onto SH2 they became a lot more...scenic. We stopped for Devonshire teas - as is our new custom - and continued to Huka falls, just north of Lake Taupo. They were quite magnificent and such a vivid blue colour. There was a small party jet-boating at the foot of the falls, but they kept well away from the immensely powerful undercurrent. We have since learned that Kayaker's go OVER the falls??!!

On down to Taupo at around 4pm, we found out hostel, Tiki Lodge, and were dismayed to learn from reception that they were fully booked, they'd been fully booked since September with a group of ultimate frisbee playing yankee students. But we'd booked too! And we'd paid as well?! They advised us to go and have a pint or two and see the town and they would try and squeeze us in. Not being the sort than need to be told to 'go for a pint' more than once, we presently did exactly that. We found an Irish pub on the waterfront selling Tennents lager

and both ordered Speights. We wandered around a little more and then back to the hostel where they had done just as they had promised and found space for us. I was in the staff bedroom and Daf was sharing with 5 Japanese boys.

It turns out these wacky kids were having a punk party that evening and apparently all thought it was punk-as-f**k to march around shouting

''f**k you, no f**k you''

for most of the evening - kids eh?! Feeling very old and in need of a good night's sleep, we tried to do this but the punk-asses kept coming back to the hostel via various doors, windows and balconies until about 5.30am, each of them announcing themselves upon arrival. BRATS!!

The next morning they were all up surprisingly early and out of the hostel before us! We took off down the desert road towards Mt Tongariro and Mt Ruapehu, which we couldn't see because of the driving rain and pea-soup fog. We kept on going until Woodville where we stopped for tea and scones, then onto

Eketahuna where by this point I could no longer stay awake, due to my complete lack of sleep the previous night and ever worsening head cold. Daf took over the driving from there and we made it to the farm by around 5pm.

We were greeted by Margery who had just been feeding the pigs, and she welcomed us into her home. That evening Graham, who was no doubt exhausted, took us on a sightseeing tour of one of their farms. Up into the hills surrounding their land in the ute. The weather had completely cleared up by this point and we had a magnificent view. It is fairly sparsely inhabited down that end of North Island. If you look at it on the map you would think it's not inhabited at all. There are really only a few sheep and beef stations and the odd tiny village. Much like the north west of Scotland.

On Monday morning we drove to Castlepoint to see the lighthouse, beach and waterfront. What looked to be a grim day soon cleared up when we climbed the headland to see a fantastic view, up the east coast and out to the Pacific. We explored the beaches and then into town...for a cup of tea. It felt very much like we were in the Hebrides and strange to hear the locals talking with the NZ twang.

We drove back up the windy road to the farm where we took a trip into Tinui with Margery to see the church where her daughter Robyn is getting married at the end of the year, then onto the house and garden where the reception is being held. We came back to the farm house to help sand down some window sills before Graham offered to take us up to see Mt Misery on the other farm which they are managing. Another spectacular sunset and a beautiful evening.

After a dinner of local roast mutton with all the trimmings and another good bottle of wine we headed for bed as we were up early the next day to drive to Rotorua.

We headed off at 9am, stopping only in Dannevirke for petrol, then arrived in Rotorua around 3pm. It stank. We continued round to see Lake Rotoiti. In

2003 Adam Duncan, one of Daf's good friends from Glenalmond, whom I met on 2 or 3 occasions, died aged 21 in an accident on Lake Rotoiti. The memorial service in St Ninian's in Perth was mobbed and there was quite an out-pouring of grief as Adam was a charming, hilarious and personable chap with friends in abundance. The lake was beautiful. It was banked on all sides by steep wooded slopes with only a sprinkling of small settlements on the southern edge. We stopped to take a look in Rotoiti and tried to find somewhere to stay for the night. There is no accommodation in the area, we drove up and down for at least an hour but nothing. Not keen to go back into stink-ville (Rotorua) we had no choice but found a room no problem.

That evening we explored the Thermal capital of NZ, had a pint for Adam and slept very soundly.

In the morning I wanted to open the bedroom windows to air the room. Not a sensible idea in Rotorua as the

bubbling mud pools and geysers all over the town fill the air with the stench of sulphur and rotten eggs. We drove to the edge of the lake to take a closer look at the milky water and mud pools. Took some pictures and quickly got back in the car. We had a look at some of the hot water pools but by that point to novelty had worn off and we just wanted to get back to Auckland.