Lake Taupo

Lake Taupo is the largest lake in New Zealand, with a surface of 622 km2.
This place is one of New Zealands most popular holiday destinations, and the kiwis like to be entertained when they are on holiday, so it seems. Reminds me a little bit of what we saw in Queenstown, fun to be had on every corner, if you have the cash ;)
Bungyjumping, skydiving, scenic flights and much more.
Yesterday Michel insisted we go fishing on the lake, and so we did. We rented a whole boat and a skipper, Shawn, who immigrated from England 21 years ago and has been back to England only once.
He first took us out to see carvings into the rock made by the Maori. I told the children they were made many, many years ago (I think I might have mentioned 2000 years) and we fantasized how they would have made them back in those days. Back inside the boat we asked the skipper about this and were a bit disappointed to learn the were made in 1975 using medical equipment.
We caught three trouts, brought the biggest to one of the better restaurants in town where we had it as an entree the same evening.
Today we went to see the Huka falls and then went swimming in the Waikato river (NZ s longest river)  and this was really special because the swimming hole was warm, boiling hot even in some places thanks to the thermal water streaming into it from one of the hot springs. A round of sushi to end a perfect day and back home to our farm in the Shire with a perfect view on the Mount Do.
Tomorrow we are moving again. Going to Roturoa for some more thermal activity and hopefully a glimpse of Maori culture, which is a bit hard to spot in this country. If you disregard the souvenir shops with the commercial culture.
See you soon.

Rainbow trout

The crew

Emil

Sweet fish

Cattle in rural Taupo

The "ancient" carvings

Dinner

Lake Taupo in front of Mount Doom (Ngauruhoe)

Ice cream vendors at Huka falls and their 1952 Moris mini

Lake Taupo

Waikato River

Natural hot tub

Louis and Madeleine

Pic-nic, New Years eve and Napier

We started the 31. dec with a perfect picnic in one of the nature parks in Lower Hutt.
Being very sporty people we engaged in a soccer game. Louis, Blair and myself against Emil, Tom and Michel. Unfortunately the game ended only 40 seconds later when I fell and sprained my ankle... so I coudn't go on the walk up to the waterfall, but I heard it was a nice one.
I made it back to the car be it with some pain and a lot of character ;) And then it was cooking time for the barbecue Blair had planned for some of his friends and family and lucky us. Tom is actually a semi-professional chef and Blair very handy in the kitchen so they were on all the serious dishes. I took care of dessert, and Michel picked the wine :)
It was nice meeting lots of new people, the lively cousins Pippa and Kyra, who once offered themselves to the monster of Loch Ness :) his brother Tony, (notice the combination Tony and Blair ;) )
and many others.
The day after we headed to Napier on Blair and Tom's advice. Nice city famous for it's art deco style houses, built after an earth quake in 1931.  We did some of the things we like the most, ate out, swam and wandered in the shopping street.
This morning we went to the national Aquarium also located in Napier, interesting and good with the kids.
Now we have arrived in our new home for three days close to lake Taupo in the middle of the north island. A beautiful farm with lots of fruit trees and three cows :)
see you soon!

a game of rugby

Amy

the water fall

Tom, Blair, and Amy

Emil water fall

Fairy friends

first class pic nic

the walk

kids enjoying new year's dinner

James, Kyra and Joan

Pippa

Frida, Melissa and Kylene

Jonathan

Amy getting close to midnight

Wayne

Are you looking at me?

Shark bite

Piranha

Napier harbor

Emil enjoying giant mussels at Mr D (highly recommended restaurant in Napier

Change of islands, Blair and Amy

Saturday morning we said goodbye to the piglets and our beautiful Golden Hills farm cottage.
Through Marlborough vineyards to Picton where we took the Interislander across.
Today is our second day in the Wellington area. We were exited to come here, mostly because we were meeting up with Blair and Amy, our new friends. We are staying with them for three days in their home in Petone. Blair lived in Belgium for a few years and is a good friend of good friends, when I mailed him about our upcoming trip to his country, he invited us to stay here with him and his daughter Amy who is 10 days older than Madeleine.
It is so nice to be in a "normal" house and we enjoy the conversation with Blair and Tom (a Flemish friend of Blairs who is also touring NZ) and the amazing hospitality they're showing us.
Today they took us to the capital and showed us around, we went to Te Papa, the impressing national museum with an earthquake house and a giant squid. We went for lunch on a boat before heading to Mount Victoria for a 360 view over this hilly city.
Now we have returned from the cinema, we saw "The Hobbit" while Madeleine stayed with Amy, good fun and the boys very happy of course.
So far so good, counting on Michel for some pictures to accompany my text, so if they're not here yet, take a look later (he's playing poker with Blair and Tom.

And tomorrow it's New Years Eve :)