Monday, November 18th, 2013
We left Palmerston North just before 9 AM giving us plenty time for a leisurely sight-seeing trip north to Lake Taupo and area. It was a beautiful drive on a sunny day passing through forests, mountains, farming areas and desert. Our first stop was just south of Taihape where we were seduced by a huge sign advertising Made in New Zealand Wool Products. We entered a fabulous shop that had items we hadn't seen in earlier browsing. So we got down to business and started trying on. Over an hour later we had each chosen a few pieces that were immediately mailed to us at home. Merry Christmas from us to us!!
Our next stop was a lunch break where I found a delicious roasted vegetable frittata and a 'flat white' coffee. (Coffee - I will have to address our coffee issues in one of these blogs.) We ate lunch in a back garden surrounded by flowering trees and birds flitting about. After lunch we went wandering about the Taihape shops in search of the elusive passionfruit pulp to take home with us. Fresh passionfruit is not in season and all the preserved pulps we have found are in containers of 45% fruit drowning in sugar syrup. One shopkeeper was aware of an Auckland company that dries and grinds fruit into powders. She went online to find the producer and discovered that they do have passionfruit powder. How nice that would be mixed into a pavlova meringue or cake batter! Now we're on a mission to find that product.
Nourished and shopped out, we continued our drive north to Taupo, first on the desert road and then viewing the majestic snow-covered volcanic peaks of Tongariro National Park. We stopped once to dip our toes in the Lake and look for hot spots in the sand - no luck today.
Lake Taupo is the largest freshwater lake in Australasia and the city of Taupo is located on the northeast side of the lake. We parked and visited the i-site centre to get information on what to see and do in the area and then explored the city center continuing our search of passionfruit and a tasty snack. No luck on the former but success finding a snack.
Our last leg of today's journey took us about 20 minutes northeast of Taupo to the home of Fiona, a family friend of Tina's. Fiona lives "in a green house in the middle of a paddock". We found her place (thanks to Ms Garmin, our GPS friend) and were quite taken aback with the simple beauty of her property. Fiona purchased this home on an acre and a half 6 months ago in order to provide room for her two Old English Sheep Dogs, Summer and Rose, to have room to romp. Fiona's place is surrounded by other 'lifestyle properties" (we would call them hobby farms). Looking out of her windows we see sheep, horses, pigs, cattle and, at times we can hear a small sawmill buzzing. Lots of company for the dogs on the other side of all fences surrounding their home.
We're here with Fiona for the next three nights and will explore the area during the day while she is at work. Lucky us!
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