There was the most amazing thunderstorm during the night with violent streaks of lightning and ear splitting claps of thunder continuing for hours. In the morning, after a couple of false starts, the weather decided to behave and by the time we left Acacia Cliffs Lodge the sun was shining and it was the warmest it has been since we arrived in New Zealand. We drove into Taupo itself for a close up look at the lake. The water was sparkling in the sunshine and we were about to drive on by when Simon caught sight of a float plane landing on the lake and this fired his imagination. Within 10 minutes of first spying the plane we were in it and airborne!

By now it was a beautiful, sunny day and the view of the lake from above was superb. Our pilot, Neil, pointed out all the sights as we passed overhead and gave us some of the facts and figures. Lake Taupo is huge! It measures about 40 km by 32 km and 160 m deep in places but, most importantly, it is beautiful and the views of the lake from above were simply breathtaking. Before coming in to land on the water we flew round over the land and were able to see the Craters of the Moon, where the land has subsided after the nearby power station lowered underground water levels, and the Huka Falls where the great Waikato River leaves Lake Taupo on its way north.

After our wonderful floatplane trip we went and viewed the impressive Huka Falls close up before setting off along Highway 5, otherwise known as the Thermal Explorer Highway, on our way over the hills to Napier.

After a couple of hours we reached our destination and the sat nav took us up some very steep hills and round hairpin corners to McHardy Lodge which is set way up on the hillside overlooking the sea. After settling in we went down into nearby Ahuriri where we enjoyed a selection of delicious tapas and a glass of C******nay (now there's a surprise!) in a bar/restaurant called the Provedore, overlooking the water.