We left Wellington on Monday morning and headed for Taupo. On the way we stopped off at Ohakune which is mainly a ski town for the biggest ski area in NZ. They are also know for their carrots (with a famous giant statue of a carrot as you drive in) so we had to have a break for some carrot cake which was YUM!! We then continued on to Taupo. It took much longer than it should have as unfortunately we took our first wrong turn... Which resulted in our first driving domestic haha. I think we got lazy as in the South Island you pretty much cannot take a wrong turn! We did eventually make it to Taupo where we set up camp in a free site by the Waikato river.
The first thing on Samuel's agenda today was to go to the skate park, where he happens to be again now whilst I'm writing this. After a quick lunch break we took a short walk to a natural hot pool. This was a dream for our achey bodies that have been sleeping on thin camping mats way too often lately!! When we began to melt we dried off and went to the famous Huka falls. The photos don't do it justice but it was insane how much water there was crashing against the rocks.
Tonight we stay in our little campsite again before driving an hour North to Rotorua. Just having been to Taupo, we are experiencing a very different New Zealand already in the North Island, with much more Maori culture.