Hi, am in Taupo. Stayed 4 nights at cousin Grant's house in Auckland. The first evening we just chatted and had a meal, trying to stay awake and get my body clock into NZ time. The following day, Saturday, we went to the beach in the afternoon and had a fish supper in the evening. Sunday, we went into the city centre and had brunch up the sky tower, which is the tallest tower in the southern hermisphere apparently. At the top is a revolving restaurant and we all tucked into pancakes with banana and coconut topping. The city is very clean and the traffic is light but in essence just like any other city. Monday, we went for a bit of a trek to a waterfall, was good, 3 of their friends also came along, one slipped on the way back and hurt her back so it was snails pace back to the car. Today is Tuesday, no surprise, took a coach to a town called Taupo, it has the largest lake in NZ. Staying at the Motel Barcelona, in a shed that they describe as a 'cabin'. It's not as hot as Bangkok but is very very humid, so sweating alot. Can't say I like the town centre, it is just big detached store with car park, then another, then another. No pedestrians, guess they are all in the cars driving between shops. Only staying the night luckily. Tomorrow, I travel by coach to Wanganui, which is 4 hours away. My cousin, Nikki, is trying to get tomorrow and Thursday off work so she can show me around. Will probably stay there until Saturday. NZ is very very green! Dominanted by hills which either have the greenest grass you have every seen or is filled with trees. Not many cars, all the cars are Japanese models and are usually big. They only have a population of 4 million people. D