Sunday - had a great nights kip. Finally stopped waking at 4.30am - hurrah!! Today we set off round lake Taupo, stopping at the national trout centre on the banks of the Tongariro river - apparently this area is world famous for its trout fishing. We then meandered across the volcanic plateau - the tongariro national park which is dominated by the three active volcanoes of Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe and Tongariro - couldn't quite work out which one was which, but one was belching smoke, one was covered in snow and the other, which looked most like a volcano, was apparently the one used as Mount Doom in The Lord of the Rings films. It didn't look quite as scary as we sat and looked at it over a cup of tea and sandwiches at lunchtime, but it was still pretty dramatic! We reached our planned destination earlier than expected so decided to take an alternative route to give us a slightly easier journey tomorrow and headed to Whanganui - via a beautiful, green, hilly wilderness. Poor budget Bertha had to work hard today, up and down hills and mountains, but we had another great day with dramatic variations in scenery from beginning to end. We parked up late afternoon beside a lake just outside Whanganui and Eric is now trying to catch some fish . . . .