This morning we hiked to Huka Falls. Round trip the hike was about 3 miles. It was a wonderful hike. We saw interesting birds and vegetation.

For dinner we ate at a restaurant overlooking the lake, called Waterside, in Taupō,. We started with prawns and mussels and then shared an order of fish and chips. It was all very good.

Taupō, where we ate tonight and last night is about a 20 minute drive from Hilltop Whakaipo Estate where we are staying.

I’m usually pretty good at avoiding scam links. But this morning I clicked on a link in an email from a friend supposedly from a paperless post. Unfortunately it was a scam and sent similar messages to everyone in my contacts. Don’t click on the link.

I’m sorry for this. 😖

Today we continued farther north and west on New Zealand’s north island.

Lake Taupo is New Zealand’s largest lake. It’s a little bit larger than Lake Tahoe.

For dinner we drove into town and ate at Steak House Taupō.

New Zealand is beautiful! Everywhere we have been has been green. Today’s drive was more of the same.

When we arrived at Glendower Homestead last night it was very very dark and we couldn’t see anything of our surroundings. This morning we got to enjoy the beautiful location.

Today we drove further north to the town of Havelock North. About half way through our drive we stopped for brunch at a great little local coffee shop.

While we were waiting for our food, a big group of riders on horses passed the coffee shop. Apparently they are riding from Hastings to Wellington to deliver a petition to the government.

Tonight we are in a lovely little villa in Havelock North.

Today was a busy travel day. We enjoyed our little seaside house in Nelson until about 10 am. Then we packed up and drove about two hours north and east to Picton.

In Picton we took the ferry across the Cook Strait to Wellington on the North Island. The ferry ride took about four hours.

In Nelson, last night, it was very very windy. We were a bit worried that the ferry might be cancelled. But Picton seemed to be sheltered from the wind. Our ferry ride was quite smooth

Once we got to Wellington we had to drive another hour and a half to where we staying tonight. By the time we got here it was dark and finding our accommodation was very challenging. But we finally made it and are enjoying another great cozy room.