mon 6th July

School holidays in NZ. The kids have 2 weeks off. The 1st week we all went to Auckland, stopping at Cambridge on the way there and back to visit Adam ,John and Lissa friend.Lovely town very English, lots of trees and parks, with a cricket pitch in the middle of the town.

We stayed outside Auckland at a place called Bucklands Beach, from here we could get the ferry into the center of Auckland. The motel was right on the side of the bay where you could see the Sky Tower lit up at night, and watch the ferrys going backwards and forwards to the city.
Had a full on day the next day. Frist stop was The Sky Tower,if you wont to you can jump off the top a bit like a bungee jump. Next stop The Aquarium, followed by a trip to The Transport And Technology Museum. Glad we took the ferry in so no one had to drive back to the motel.
Next day was spent at Rainbows End a theame park. The kids loved it on and off the rides all day.
Spent another night in Cambridge then set off for Havelock. We stopped at Lake Taupo for a late lunch.The view was spectacular we could see all 3 volcanos. I have never seen them with so much snow on them. Taupo is a great place to stay for a couple of days. Its the biggest fresh water lake in the southern hemisphere, its also a geothermal area.There are certain spots along the lake where the water is warm.
Leaving Taupo John assure us 1/4 of a tank of petrol will get us home. Its a good 2 and a 1/2 hours drive. We don't even get half way when the petrol light comes on. By now its getting dark and anyone that has traveled the Taupo to Napier road will know its not a good place to run out of petrol. The road winds its way up and down and feels like it will never end. On and on we went. All the time Liss and myself watching the petrol gauge. Believe it or not we make it to a petrol pumpe only to find its not working.
Slowly we roll into a place called Bay View, where there are 2 petrol stations opposite each other.By then even John was starting to sweat. After filling up we set off for Havelock.

Hope you understand this as I have had trouble with the computer today.