Andy has a day off tomorrow so it's another mini break for us. This time we're off to see beaches, lakes, mountains & volcanoes!

We left Hamilton around 2pm driving through trees and farmland towards lake Taupo. Autumn is turn into winter now, not just because it's cold wet & windy, but the leaves have turned from green to red & yellow and are now falling from the trees

We also drove through large areas of deforestation - is sad seeing all the trees cut down and being loaded onto logging lorrys but I guess paper and wood comes from somewhere.

Andy also told me fascinating facts about how different clouds were formed....

We stopped at Huka falls just outside Taupo. This a fast flowing river/ series of small waterfalls, and the water was a turquoise colour. Eventually that river turns into the river Waikato, the river which flows through Hamilton and Andys airbase.

We then went to Craters of the Moon geothermal park. It has a 1-2mile track around grassland, beneath which the heat from the volcanos heats up the land & steam bursts out creating craters, hence the name. And it did feel like you could be on another planet

It was now nearly 5 & would be dark soon. we drove down into Taupo which was a bit disappointing, it certainly didn't look like the pictures in the book, perhaps because of all the grey clouds! It certainly wasn't as nice as Queenstown or Lake Tekapo - maybe I've just be spoilt by some of the places I've been to! That said, driving south from Taupo towards Turangi it did look v picturesque, even as it was getting dark, not sure why that wasn't in the guidebook, if it had have been we might have got there in the daylight!

We checked into our motel & the woman had suggested the restaurant opposite for dinner. We had a v nice bottle of Shiraz and a cuddle with their cat Bailey - who was a fatter version of our Lucy cat