Lake Taupo

09.11.08: We left said good-bye to the chicken, cows and horses at The Waipatiki Beach Farm Park, went south to Napier, filled up on gas, and then headed an hour and a half west to Lake Taupo. As usual, more rolling hills with sheep and cows and the weather was rainy and windy.

We checked into the Lake Taupo Top 10 Holiday Park, mostly because we read that it was a recently-built, modern facility and it was that time of the month again. No, I’m not speaking about female stuff. We figured they would have some good internet facilities to take care of bill paying. Needless to say, we didn’t do anything that much exciting that day. I found a post office to send my “starving student” daughter some money, and spent most of the rest of the day paying bills and taking care of business (including booking our flight back to CA. So mark the date, October 7th!), while Sean and Kailani played in their playground, complete with another bouncing pillow. However, we did find a great little café in town called Fine Fettle that served organic-if-possible, wholesome food. I got a Caesar salad, Sean got the mussel chowder and Kailani got the wheat-free, dairy-free lasagna.

We liked that restaurant so much, that the next day, we were there again for breakfast. Sean got the eggs benedict and Kailani and I shared the buckwheat pancakes. As well, we also had a detox juice with a double shot of wheatgrass. Yum! This is the second time we’ve ordered pancakes for breakfast, and both times they’ve come with bacon and grilled bananas. So, I’m guessing those are the standard fixings for pancakes. All was good again. In fact, we also ended up with a frozen package of their takeaway mussel chowder, to eat later.

We moved down the road to another campsite, The Taupo DeBretts Spa Resort, where they had campground facilities, fresh hot mineral water pools, warm water playground and a spa. We spent most of the afternoon jumping around, trying the various pools. And, our adrenaline-junky daughter kept asking to go down their “Dragon Hydro-Slide” (luckily with warm water) again, and again, and again! It was at least 2-3 stories tall was fast enough to turn me sideways at least a couple times. Needless to say, Kailani tucked herself in and slept well that afternoon for her nap. And Sean and I took turns that evening getting some spa treatments. After that, so did we!