Big blue sky.......

Awoke early to a real stunner of a day - hardly a cloud in the sky and not a breath of wind. I'd decided yesterday that if the weather was good I'd take a drive up to the Whakapapa (pronounced fokker-popper) ski-field and have a coffee at NZ's highest cafe. Being summer of course, the snow was minimal but they run a couple of ski lifts to get people up to the top of the mountain to the cafe and to enjoy the views. And what views they are!!

Once down at ground level again, I decided to head Taupo way. Did a little shopping in Taupo (and nabbed a couple of real bargains!) but decided that I'd continue on a bit rather than stay there as there seemed to be far too many people for my liking. Headed towards Rotorua and the geo-thermal centre of NZ although have opted to stay a few kms out of town tonight at a place I've never heard of before - Waikite. What a wee treasure! The campground itself is nothing to write home about but the fact that the whole site is situated on it's own thermal spring which delivers a constant source of hot water to a series of man-made pools which campers are invited to enjoy at their leisure as part of their Waikite experience has made my end-of-the-day relaxation a no-brainer! I only hope I don't go sleep walking tonight - my tent is just metres from the boiling stream!!

The plan tomorrow is to do a fairly full Rotorua Thermal Highlights tour - but I'm not too confident that the weather is going to be all that good.

Overspill pics