Time in Taupo

On our way to a week holiday in Taupo - yah!  Nige was a safe driver, wearing his bluetooth headset.

Just over an hour into our trip we came across a LONG line of traffic.  I got out and went for a walk to see if I could see anything and along the way chatted with a few people.  I came across two different truck drivers who have family members of the owners who attend Riverbend so I stopped and asked if they knew what the hold up was.  It turned out to be a two-car head-on collision where we later found out that two men died at the scene and the third person was airlifted to Hawke's Bay Hospital.  We were told the wait could be as long as four hours so after 40 minutes we turned around and went for a drive and came across the river in the above picture.  It was very sad driving by the crash site and seeing a body covered with a blanket.

A beautiful scenery shot from the spot where we were parked waiting for the crash site to be cleared for traffic.

Some of the long line of traffic.  All the trucks had to stay put and let all the smaller vehicles through, as there wasn't enough space for the trucks to pass by.  More than four hours later, when we were in Taupo and had settled at our place and had gotten groceries, we saw a couple of the trucks that had been just in front of us in the line of traffic pass by!!  It was a LONG wait for them!

Each evening there were beautiful sunsets out our living room window onto Lake Taupo.  I took tons of photos of them but picked out a couple goodies.

One morning (quite a chilly one at that!) we drove just north of Taupo to watch the water being released from the dam.

Looking out the kitchen window at Mount Ruapehu.  Yes, it was COLD in Taupo!

Nige bought himself a model, the HMS Victory, to build while we were away this week.  Its something he's wanted to do for a long time and finally this was the week to do it.  It was very fiddly but he enjoyed the process . . .

. . . and needed a nap or two in between the ship building!

One day when we went to Replete for lunch we walked in and saw my Uncle Merv and Aunty Viv from Tauranga sitting there having their lunch.  They were in Taupo for the day and so we ended up sitting together and enjoyed a lovely catch-up with them.

The completed HMS Victory, and my incomplete scrapbook album in the background.  It was a lovely week away and enjoyable, restful time together.