Taupo
A rest day from driving today and James slept through until 8am - hurrah!! this despite the noise of road making equipment just outside our window which kept him entranced, once he realised what was going on, until well after breakfast. After a leisurely morning we headed to the Taupo AC baths and went for a swim in the geo-thermally heated leisure pool which James loved. It has water slides for the older kids (or grown-ups in Catherine's case) and play areas for the younger children
Taupo sits in a volcanic region and the lake was formed by a major eruption from one of the world's largest volcanoes and heat from thermal area is taken up by a Power station. If you look across the valley you can see pockets of steam rising up. There are also several hydro-electric stations along the Waikatu river and Lake Taupo is used to control the flow of water.
After lunch we headed to the "Craters of the Moon" to get a closer look at these thermals. We then drove across to look at the Huka falls on the Waikatu river with the most amazing coloured water.
 
Back to domestic bliss and Gavin and I returned to camp and bravely emptied the toilet waste container for the first time - not as bad as we expected but there is a severe punishment for whichever of us is next too lazy to walk to the toilet block. James got his wish and we had pizza for dinner (again) .
8:46:54 PM 
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