Taupo is set on the edge of a large lake of the same name. As we wandered around the town I got quite excited as I could see the bars and restaurants were open until a sensible time so no fear of being kicked out at quarter to nine. The place has a similar buzz to Queenstown on the South Island. After our previous two nights of peace and tranquillity I was ready to hit the town!

We had a brief stop at Huka Falls on the way to check out a camp site. They are on the Waikato river and were quite an impressive site and well worth the stop. Richard described the scene as a torrent of blue water capped with tossed white foam.

We found a lovely camp site a couple of kilometers from the main part of town. It's one of our favourites and run by a friendly couple. It was spotlessly clean, well laid out and had music playing in the outside seating area.

Having only had a solar shower in two days the luxury of a proper shower was very much appreciated.

We headed into town that evening looking forward to a curry and a few beers. There were only two Indian Restaurants in the town and we picked Heritage of India. What a big mistake. It was the worst curry I'd ever eaten. I'd ordered a Vegetable Jalfrezi, and after waiting an age, what I got was a dish of vegetables that had come out of the freezer and mixed in a tomato sauce that tasted like they'd emptied the pepper pot into it. The manager didn't seem to care his customers were not happy. In the end after Richard refused to pay we managed to get the dish knocked off the bill.

The night was still young so we went onto a couple of pubs and then staggered back the 2km to our camp. The next morning I woke up with a raging hangover. I couldn't believe it, it was the first proper hangover I've had in New Zealand. I put it down to the fact I wasn't drinking micro brewery beer, that's hangover free! And before you ask Katherine Anderson, I didn't get my top off, dance on tables, or be sick - I'm saving that for Sydney!

As part of my hangover medicine we walked into town and had a burger at Burger Fuel, home of exceptionally good burgers!

On our last day in Taupo we went back to Huka Falls to do a 14km (just under 9 miles) walk to Aratiata Dam. It was a pleasant walk along the river then through a pine forest where the trees were creaking like an un-oiled door. Luck was on our side because just as we arrived at the dam they opened the gates to let the water flow down stream over rocks and boulders.

That night we had planned to stay at a free campsite alongside the river. We knew it would be a bit scummy, but we were thinking of the money we'd save. We parked up and I went up to check the toilets out. At first glance they looked clean and even though they were long drops opposed to my favoured flush toilets I thought we'd scored. Then I opened my nostrils and got the foulest, stinkiest smell I've smelt from a toilet. I couldn't even stand inside. I went back down to Richard and said they weren't the best, but Richard said not to wimp out. As I slowly started to unpack the van, I tried to work out if I could manage with only one trip to the toilet for the rest of the day. I told Richard to go up and check them out. He came back waving his hand beneath his nose and said they were disgusting. After a couple of seconds discussion we concluded that we'd rather pay $30 (£12) and go to a proper campsite with nice smelling toilets!

We got straight into Blanche and drove to Turangi, a town at the south end of Lake Taupo and where we are now.

Katy

PS Richard beat me at Scrabble last night, though only because he got a 50-point bonus for using all seven letters at once.