19th December, Taupo, New Zealand

Misc blogettes

1. On the taxi from the airport when I arrived in Auckland, I asked the driver what the summer weather had been like so far. He replied, 'it's been pretty rainy, but it rains all the time here!' Does that sound familiar to my Scottish readers?!

2. While I was lying in the chair having my dental treatment, who should come on the radio but Susan Boyle, the singing sensation from Blackburn, Scotland. Singing her theme song, 'I dreamed a dream'. She was announced as 'Sue' here in NZ and with their pronunciation of 'o' as 'i (think about it) her name didn't sound so appealing somehow! Incidentally my filling cost NZ $310, pretty expensive.

3. Still on the Dentist theme, the female dentist was a Russian who studied at the Dental School in Dunedin. I wondered how this occurred given visa issues etc. Actually the hotel receptionist could have been Russian too. Need to investigate.

Now back to the traveblog.

I left Auckland on Thursday 17th Decemember, having hired a car for the remainder of my stay here. Given the hotel stay and taxi to get my bags to the Avis office, this is called 'designer backpacking'.

I had a pleasant run down to Taupo. New Zealand clearly isn't big on motorways and the motorway out of Auckland soon became a two lane road with an extra passing lane from time to time.Also it seemed that quite a few of the towns hadn't been by-passsed and with the speed limit set at 100kms per hour (and many stretches with 80/70/60/50km per hour), you really have to chill out when driving. Having said this the roads are well maintained and very quiet so it makes for pleasant travelling. Got into the YHA at Taupo late in the afternoon after spending time in Rororua. YHAs now have single rooms ('designer backpacking' again) but the noise level at night hasn't got any better. Sleep wasn't helped by the fact that I kept my mobile under my pillow-I had to get up very early-and texts sound pretty loud under one's pillow! (But very welcome folk-keep them coming).

I had booked the mini bus ('Hot Bus') to take me to the start of the Tongariro Crossing (more later). These buses pick up people from around the town, and I got it at 06:00; it only had 4 passengers. We arrivived at 07:45 in Tongariro National Park, after a lengthy journey around the huge Lake Taupo: this lake is a volcanic crater which is big enough (according to the driver) for Singapore to fit inside it.

More to follow...