Four seasons in one weekend away.

We left Tauranga on Friday afternoon in squally rain and travelled across country to Lake Taupo.

We learned why so many people have 4X4 cars on the way down, as the Mazda Dolmio really struggled driving up and down the hills in the driving rain. It's a great little runaround town car, and we can fit more luggage in the boot than the beetle and lotus combined, but "Dolly" will definitely have to be supplemented with something a bit meatier in a couple of weeks time.

We stopped off in Taupo town and ran through the rain to the "Indian Experience". Not a Bollywood theme park, but it was a good Indian meal.

We found the Bach after a dark and rainy trip round some very winding roads and settled in for the night. (A Bach is a Kiwi holiday home and started out as the shortened version of "Batchelor Pad", as they were originally used for fishing and hunting lads weekends)

Loo, Molly and I arranged that we would get up early if the weather improved and watch the sunrise over Lake Taupo.

You can see how beautiful the sunrise was. This is a Tui bird sitting in a tree high above the lake.

These are Loo and Molly, still fast asleep at 10:30, dreaming of Primark!

When they eventually awoke, we continued on our trip southwards, passing through the Tongariro National Park on the Desert Highway. This is the main route from Auckland, the biggest city in NZ,  7 hours drive, down to Wellington, the Capital City. So I guess it fulfils a similar function to the M1. See below for some pictures of M1-type scenery!

These are volcanoes.

It was a little chilly and you can see the girls required a little extra head protection. The gleam signifies that I am made of hardier stuff!

We finally arrived in Levin in the late afternoon and enjoyed a lovely evening with Gary, Audrey and Zoe Collins who emigrated to NZ eight years ago. The last time Loo met them was at our Wedding! She was a little more restrained in her alcohol consumption last night, so let's hope she remembers more this time!

I'll just end with a couple more pictures of the beautiful Lake Taupo sunrise and say Bore Da to the day in Levin.

Kevin.