We eventually made it to Lake Taupo; a large lake in the crater of what was once a huge global-scale volcanic eruption. It's a big lake - not as big as a great lake - but as big as or bigger than Lake Muskoka. The difference is that there are no little bays and islands - it's all one huge body of water. It's also surrounded by mountains and so the vistas are stunningly beautiful.

The famously well-equipped Super Loo provided a much needed pit-stop since it took us an hour to drive around to the bottom end of the Lake to our accommodation in Turangi. I had booked a privately owned cottage (Paratiho) and was a little apprehensive about what it'd be like, but it turned out to be incredible! The cottage was on a countryside hill a few hundred meters above the lake with clear views over to the hills on the other side of Taupo. It was homey and comfortable and quiet but had everything you could possibly need (yay dishwashers and laundry!). We ate dinners out on the deck, underneath the grape vine, overlooking the beautiful gardens and taking in the lake views. It was breathtaking.

Cutest of all, our hosts, John and Valda Milner, had a friendly golden lab named Travis. In fact there were two dogs in the vicinity that looked identical - Travis and Abbot ( ? we think he was named Abbot) and we were never sure which one was visiting! We think the dogs may have been playing switcheroo on us.

John, who was a great storyteller, and an avid fisherman, offered us fly fishing lessons and invited us to traipse down to their sumptuous home to practice casting with his very expensive rods and reels ($500+!) on their lawn. We were very negligent and didn't start our lessons until the day before we were to go out fishing with our guide. John promised us that it would take 4 days to properly learn how to fly fish - and he was right - but we went anyway and had a great time. Our trout fishing guide, Ian Jenkins, was fantastic and friendly and a good teacher too. His wife provided us with tea and yummy New Zealand-style baked goods from their gorgeous bed and breakfast Tui Lodge. See the giant fish we caught!!!? Yah... that's right... giant. ;-)

On a whirlwind tour of the local sights, we visited the thundering aquamarine Huka Falls and the bubbling and steaming volcanic area Craters of the Moon. The attraction that kept drawing us back - and incidentally had very few tourists - was the thermal pools in Tokaanu - with private pools! Nothing better to soothe sore muscles.