En route to the Tongariro Alpine Crossing

A longish drive today to make up some time lost due to a minor electrical problem which needed a trip to the garage. We had originally intended to spend some time in Rotorua but made a decision to move on with only a short stop to look at some gaseously bubbling sulphurous pools near the town centre. We didn't fancy forking out some 70 NZ dollars to visit the managed sites since it seemed rather a lot to pay to be odiferously asphyxiated ... Besides, we had assumed, wrongly perhaps, that we would see little to compare with the geothermal areas of Yellowstone and Iceland (comments from our experienced NZ chums putting us right on this much appreciated!)

Overnighting in Lake Taupo in a (free) carpark overlooking the largest lake in NZ. I had always assumed that the times I would spend sleeping in a carpark would be accompanied by a packet of Park Drive and bottle of meths. (Instead, he was accompanied by an elegant wife and some nice wine. Who is Park Drive, anyway? Ed.)The money saved on campground fees was invested in a nice meal in the town and a bottle of NZ Syrah/Voignier although we did stagger back to the van clutching another bottle which our waiter had recommended. The calculus goes something like ... "Well, we've saved so much on the camping fees that spending this amount on a good bottle of Pinot Noir is not THAT extravagant"... A poor argument, I know....




An earlier beer at the lakeside coincided with the prizegiving for day 5 of the annual 1000k Auckland to Wellington bike race... A very jolly affair with some past and present cycling stars on the NZ scene. A few snaps for the cyclists (Alun ;-)) amongst our readers ...( If you're not, skip 'em as they are a bit dull, well I think they are! Ed.)

The bloke in the blue t-shirt is apparently former 6 times NZ road champion and his brother, a Tour de France rider, was apparently the one who shopped Lance Armstrong ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the race leaders (no idea who she is but when I papped her and said 'smile', she said 'I'm always smiling') (and here was the Ed. thinking she was just in this blog for the Male Gaze...)

 

 

 

 

 

 




 

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