Day 7.....Lake Taupo to Napier and those Prawns.....

Hello faithful followers, right where was I?  That's right, the lovely Lake Taupo.  Now, as I was wandering back to Trevor the other night I had a thought - how funny it was that the park was full of grown men and women all sleeping in what are essentially transit vans.  There we all were, lined up, washing hanging on clothing pegs and awful sights of those who feel the need to walk to the shower block in nothing but their pants and a flannel sized towel.  Not a problem if you are Daniel Craig, but if you are some hairy fat European, its enough to put you off your morning coffee....

Anyhoo, I digress, so after a lovely scone and coffee by the shores of Lake Taupo, it was time to say goodbye to the lovely town and campsite and head out to my next destination via some more magicial scenery.  First stop, Huka Falls.

Lovely blue rushing waterall that is on eveyones list, including the tour buses from the big cruise ships that dock around the island and who I seem to catch up with at every stop!  They trail them in and they march around and they ship them out again.  Funny bunch, all rushing to see the sights dressed like nothing you have ever seen before.....

Right, back to the falls.  Majestic and powerful. Done.  Next stop a little off the beaten track natural thermal area called Craters of the Moon, says it all really.  Another free steam facial and a lovely wander then it was off to meet my dinner......

Huka Prawn Park, 'Catch 'em, Cook 'em, Eat 'em' right up my street!  So this place is nestled nicely between a lake and the geotherrmal powerstation (marginally nicer than it sounds) and it is a prawn farm. So, I paid my money and had a one to one tour of the hatching bit, the nursery where you get to feed the little prawns but putting your hand in the tank with food and they nibble away (quite an odd sensation) And then I was shown the tame prawn.  A big bugger that has lost his pincers in a fight (they are bloody agressive things these prawns) and you can hold him.  I did hold him.  Then I dropped him on the floor.......Sorry prawn.  So after the poor girl had scrabbled round trying to catch him and put him back, I was hastly shown how to fish for prawns and led out to the ponds to catch my dinner!!  Now, you fellas who rave about fishing, even though the sun was now shining very brightly, it was stunningly warm and I was in an amazing country, it was still bloody boring and frustrating!  You all know how impatient I am, so after an hour of hooking small pieces of ox heart bait (along with my fingers) onto a bamboo rod with string attached, and watching all the little mosquito fish who co-habitate with the prawns gleefully eat all my bait, I was getting tetchy.  Then when the wind finally took my little pot of bait and flung it in the pond I was about to give up but I had one last piece of bait and I had been getting nibbles, so this was it........And there it was A PRAWN ATTACHED TO MY ROD!!!!   OMG SHUT UP!! I did it!! I wooped with joy and now had the task of un-hooking Peter, putting him in my bucket and taking him to the kitchen!!!

After a few attempts the deed was done and I marched proudly to the restaurant and announced 'ccan you cook my prawn please and I will have some chips to go with him'. They were very gracious and soon Peter was there before me, and he was delicious.  And yes, I ate the shell!!!  What did make me chuckle as I was leaving was that if this place was in England there would be a big sign stating that 'this product may contain shellfish.........'

So belly full it was time for the 2 hour drive to Napier via a road that started out very straight and ended up very twisty indeed!  I drove through sun, rain, fog, more sun, more rain and then more fog and you can imagine the scenery from my previous blogs, it was pre-historic and amazing.  Trev and I did have a moment when we stopped at a scenic look out and he was reluctant to start,, but after some sweet talk he seemed ok.......so I made sure I didn't stop until we reached Napier.....

And so my next Top 10 campsite, and after being spoilt in my last 3 I can only say that this one is like Pointins at Camber.  Nice.  Not.  But it has what I need and it was handy enough so that I could meet up with the lovely Claire from back home and she, Lola and Connie took me on a very wet and dark tour of Napier and then back to Trevor for drinks and nibbles!! Having dinner with them tomorrow night too! We played a game of Silly Sausage, laughed heaps and I was so nice to see them.

So after they left and a truck load of kids arrived here rampaging and leaving the toilets looking like someone had emptied their waste tank in the sink (I kid you not) I settled in for the night. Napier, Hastings and some wineries tomorrow and then dinner with Claire and the gang......at last a good feed!!!

Night night and sweet dreams.......

I love New Zealand...........