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We had quite a distance to cover between Wellington and Taupo which meant that we had to leave early at 8am to ensure we were in Taupo by mid afternoon. Just outside of Wellington we come out onto the Kapiti coast which I had been down on my way into Wellington when I was on the north island the previous time so I got the same explanations from Poncey, my driver still, about how the coast is littered with heaps of rugged yet beautiful beaches and small commuter towns which I had already heard as well as hearing various stories about Kapiti island which could be seen in the distance. After passing through Levin, we stopped for lunch for half an hour in Bulls a small little town that I had stopped in previously, but it did give me an opportunity to get a few pictures of the gimmicky signs the town uses to get people to stop there, as previously I had left my camera on the coach when we stopped in Bulls, the cheesy signs used in the town change words that end in 'able' to 'a-bull' or 'bull' so for example the toilets being called 'relieve-a-bull'.
The next big town we passed through after leaving Bulls was Taihape which is the gumboot capital of New Zealand, I learnt once again after having passed through once before and got the same joke from Poncey about how the New Zealanders word for Wellington's (gumboots) is more manly than the English version. There are people that are sad enough to partake in Gumboot throwing championships, which had been held recently after we passed through. Departing Taihape we made the climb up to the Central Plateau, home of the Tongariro National Park. From here it was only a short drive around the great lake to Taupo. Our first stop was to drop some skydivers off, which included the bus having to go the wrong way around the roundabout to get to the skydiving location as it was not feasible to go the right way around due to the size of the vehicle, so it was lucky there was no traffic coming the other way. After dropping them off we headed straight for Huka Falls which I had already seen four times prior, but for everyone else on the bus it was their first at the great waterfall so they were all enthralled by what is a pretty spectacular waterfall, I was less interested what with it being my fifth visit to the falls. After this we embarked on the Taupo town centre which we were given a tour of before we got to Urban Retreat which is where we were staying at around 3.30pm.
My afternoon was taken up by lots of laundry which I needed to do, the machines were brilliant though and probably gave my clothes the best wash they had, had since I had been away as they actually came out clean instead or dirtier than they go in as which is what usually happens. By this stage it was already 7pm and I still hadn't managed to get to the supermarket as I was chatting to people whilst my laundry was washing and drying so I made the short trip to the nearest supermarket which happened to be Pak'n'Save but it was so quiet on the streets, there was no one around and it was pitch black, but it was a Saturday night so I couldn't work out why the town was so dead.
Once back from the supermarket I got my pasta and sauce on the go along with some corn on the cob, and then settled down to eat it in front of a movie with a few others before I went on the internet later that night, as it was free at the hostel. We got an hour's internet free but it was given in twenty minute intervals so we had to join the back of the queue when our twenty minutes was up to get back on the web as they only had three computers which meant there was always more demand than there was computers, but I managed to make the most of the internet access and use up my hour that I was given. After which I went to bed as there was nothing going on in the hostel and the rest of the town was dead. The next day I would be returning to Auckland, the days travelling had been just that travelling with no new sights to see the same as the previous day, so it was not the most enthralling day as I had already been there, done that even if I hadn't got the t-shirt lol, but I knew I only had one more days travelling to go.
Love Toby xxx
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