Taupo, Mountain Valley and Napier

Hi everyone! We are now in Taupo..where the lake is the size of Singapore..and very beautiful! Liz managed to do her bungee jump..although she didn't enjoy it as much as she thought she would, i was very close to joining her but yet again my fear of heights and hearing people scream repeatedly kinda put me off!! We are leaving today to go to Rotorua (bubbling mud pools and cultural dances/food etc), we have about 4 days there before we move on and continue to make our way upto Auckland. I have decided that I'm pretty much ready to come home so will be trying to change my flights so that my trip ends in New Zealand while Liz carries on to S.America to meet her friends from home....so i shall see you all sooner than you think!

Natural hot springs..didnt put people off going in even though it's still freezing outside!
Huka Falls...we did a 2hour round trip to get to this point but it was definately worth it for the masses of water rushing down this narrow section and flying out the other end!

We spent a couple of nights in a place called Mountain Valley, about 45mins north of Napier. We hadnt intended to stay here but the bus driver told us there was a special offer on (as it's quiet this time of year)...if we booked an activity we would get one night free, so we decided to go horse trekking there. We were the only ones staying there! It was great to have the whole place to ourselves, just to go for walks and relax :)

Me on my horse, Minnie, who was a bit grumpy and even tried to kick Liz's horse (Tyler) a couple of times!! I hadnt been riding for years and years and Minnie knew exactly where she was going so it was a lovely ride with fantastic views. Our hut is in the shape of a Maori house and is the one on the far right..we kept it toasty and warm with electric blankets and a heater but the shower block was damn cold!!

Liz playing with the leaves!

We stayed a couple of nights in Napier, known for the major earthquake that flattened the town in 1931, it was rebuilt in about 2 years all in the style of the time..Art Deco. A very cute and quirky place, with lots of history..a great museum, nice little cafes, lots of wine tours (which of course we couldnt resist!) and friendly people..what more could you want! :)

The soundshell, Napier

We also did a quick stop at the Tui tasting place on the way up from Wellington...all of these different kinds of Tui for $2!!! that's less than a pound..!!

We only had an hour and i was pretty certain i couldnt finish them in that time so i joined forces with another girl who also wanted to try and we had a really nice time sat by the fire pretending we knew something about beer..hehe