Pink Rose Clusters

Just another photo of some of the beauty we get to enjoy every day. These roses are right outside our kitchen and family room windows. The bush has several of these huge clusters of roses at a time. They smell as pretty as they look!

The Road to Lake Taupo and Turangi

We recently took another little trip (on our way to retrieve the dogs from quarantine) to the Lake Taupo area. We stayed in Turangi ~ pronounced 2 rain gee {gee as in geese} ~ these Maori words are tongue twisters!! This is some of the scenery along the way there.

I'm happy to report the dogs survived their 30 days of dog jail and seem none the worse for their ordeal. We are happy to be a family of 4 once again.

Tongariro River

Turangi claims to be the "Trout Fishing Capital of the World." Unfortunately, Roger didn't have much luck, but he did enjoy spending some time fishing in the very clean and clear waters of the Tongariro River.

Lake Rotopounamu

We spent a couple of hours one morning hiking around Lake Rotopounamu; a small lake very near Lake Taupo. It is a 6 kilometre hike around the lake and was very quiet and serene. We met only 4-5 others hikers that morning. This sign shows the lake and path around it.

Onward and upward

This is a section of the path UP to the lake. NZ is NOT flat. Although you can't really appreciate the slope of the path from this photo, we can assure you that our legs were feeling it!!

Lake Friends

We stopped briefly to enjoy the view near the beach. Almost immediately these little guys scurried over to greet us (they seemed to like our peanuts and raisins.)

Trail guardian

This forest dweller met us on the path around the lake.

Civilization, at last!

This is an odd photo to include in the collection. About 1/2 way through our hike around the lake we discovered this outhouse ~ ~ complete with a very skillfully done ceramic tile floor. These are very civilized folks here.

Maori Fence

Just 1 kilometre beyond Lake Rotopounamu is Lake Rotoaira, a much larger lake. The next photos were taken there. Apparently there used to be 2 ancient Maori dwellings there, but we couldn't find them. It is a very pretty area.

Cabbage Tree

They call these cabbage trees. They look like the Joshua trees of the southwest deserts...but they grow MUCH taller and fuller.

Black Swans at Lake Rotoaria

There are a lot of swans in NZ ~ and they all seem to be black! Haven't seen a white one yet.