Fun in the Sun...

On New Year's Day, we spent the afternoon on the edge of Lake Taupo with the campervan and the kayaks. It was a perfect summer's day, the lake was like a millpond and there was not a breath of wind. Heaven!

Murray paddling near Bulli Point. That water was so inviting...

Back at the ranch, we all had a dip, one after the other...



Later in the day Murray and Ian took the kayaks back and swapped them for Ian's boat, also collecting the barbecue and some food for dinner. Isn't it funny how food tastes really delicious after a day in the big outdoors???

After dinner Murray and Ian went out fishing. The lake was calm and peaceful at this time of the day (all the other boats had gone home) and the light seemed serene too (the heat had gone out of it, I guess). For a change Murray caught the fish.

This is the moment the fish was caught - not something we often see...

And for a final fling, Ian tried flyfishing in the lake just after dark. As you can see it was a beautiful sunset to go with the beautiful day.

Once home again, we finished the day off with pavlova, strawberries and raspberries with a welcome cup of coffee. None of us needed the pav, but it was delicious!

On our last free day in Turangi, we took the kayaks to the southern end of the lake and paddled to the beach at the bottom of the waterfall near Waihi. The water wasn't very warm, but we managed a swim and the wind was a little chilly but we sat in the sun and enjoyed a drink and a couple of Christmas chocolates. It was a breezy day and a bit of a struggle to paddle back to the car, but we had fun.


The next day we were in Taupo - just because we could! We bought some plants at the Native Plant Nursery and did a little bit of shopping. This caught my eye at The Warehouse and, if the price hadn't put me off, I might have had a little bit of Vietnam in the garden...

Later in the afternoon we headed out to Ian and Robyn's. From there we all drove past Acacia Bay and walked through the bush to Whakamoenga Point. It was quite late in the afternoon and the best sun of the day had got up and went but there were some great little spots for swimming and picnics.


The grand "old lady" of the lake, Ernest Kemp keeps on chugging on...

And that was it. Holiday over. Next day we packed up and went home, having planted the plants we bought in Taupo in the newly renovated garden box under the window box. With luck, they'll still be alive when we next get back to Turangi. And maybe some of the grass seed will have survived too...??? We didn't want to go home. Now we're home we want to go back!