The next morning we got into Turangi town for some local advice, and to pick up some different flies, then it was time for the serious business of fishing to get underway!! Shane started at the bottom of the river and slowly worked his way up though all the rips and pools....catching 2 small rainbows, which were let back in straight away. You can only keep fish over 45cm here!!!! (a little bigger than the Bandon River)....while he was doing this Phil did the Tongariro River Walk...a lovely couple of hours strolling near the river....so at the end of the day both were happy. We camped in same spot again for one last night fish...before we were going to move onto Lake O....another recommended spot!

We started the day walking up to the National Trout Centre, where we had a look at their hatcheries, viewing gallery and took a little walk around the gardens. This wasn't exactly a choice...we had a flat battery so needed to get a jump start!!!:) Luckily they were really nice in the Trout Centre and they got us on our way. Once this was all done we set off for Lake Otamangakau.....try saying that!!! Thus why it's called Lake O!!!:) We had a lovely picnic along the way, looking out over Lake Taupo which we could see really clearly.....we have been so lucky with the weather so far.....then we hit Lake O, a dammed reservoir lake....after a bit of debate about where to fish, Shane decided on a spot near the bridge in the canal......Phil left him to it reading in the van, after 15 minutes Shane came back, looking fairly down, which lead Phil to believe it had been no good...but then Shane produced a 5 pound trout out of a bag!!!! The biggest trout of his life!!!! As you can imagine he was in flying form!!!! We then headed down to the banks of the canal, where we could camp for the night and Shane could keep fishing!!! Shane got 2 more on the fly, to cement the great days fishing....while he was getting ready to finish up a stag party arrived!!! So much fishing talk followed, then we had a really yummy dinner of teriyaki trout.....so good......then Shane left Phil to join the stag party.....beers and night fishing followed, with another big one caught and released.

We had a lovely sunset over the lake and the stars out here were amazing....we weren't really near any built up area so there were plenty to see!

The following morning was a bit more fishing, then we headed up to Whakapapa (which is said Fhakapapa) to book our shuttle to do the Tongariro Crossing the next day. While we were there we did the ridge walk to get a good view of the 3 volcanoes here, the middle one of which is best know now as Mount Doom!...while we were at it we did the walk to the Mangawhero Falls, a nice little stretch of the legs....then it was back for a last afternoon of fishing in Lake O...there was nothing biting so we had a different dinner!