Day 6: Huka Falls & Lake Taupo

Sept 26th

Logan woke up at 5:15am :( But, he fell back to sleep from about 6:30 - 7:30am so I got a little bit more sleep before starting the day. When we all finally got up, we started packing for the long drive to Wellington (well, I packed while Jon walked around taking pictures of the beautiful B&B we were leaving!). We said goodbye to our fabulous host John who we would miss - he asked that we send him a picture of all of us since he enjoyed our company so much (I think because we were so loud, friendly and outgoing and made ourselves at home more than his other guests, that he really liked that). And, we'll miss his beautiful dog Loki too.

Logan fell asleep shortly after getting on the road - bonus! :) We stopped at Huka Falls about an hour or so south of Rotorua. Jon thought it was spelled "Hooker" Falls (based on how John was pronouncing it with his Kiwi accent) and wondered why he couldn't find it in Molly.

The falls were absolutely gorgeous - beautiful turquoise blue waters, crashing down onto thundering rapids below. It was magnificent! We took a ton of pics before getting back on the road.

We stopped at Lake Taupo (mid-way point) for lunch. The Indian restaurant that we wanted to try out was closed (damn travel books keep failing us!) so we found a Thai restaurant instead.

Once we were back on the road, Logan fell asleep again (woohoo!). The drive around Lake Taupo was very pretty - the lake was huge and had stunning white snow caps on the volcano mountains in the background. Reminded me of our good ol' Lake Tahoe. :) Unfortunately, we didn't stop to take any pics tho. :(

The drive ended up being one of our longest - approx. 6 hours I think (not counting the stops). Luckily, Logan was pretty good the entire day.

We stopped somewhere in the middle of nowhere for a bathroom break and ice cream. Jon decided to buy some Lotto tickets (just in case!), we got a ton of crappy junk food to snack on in the car, and everyone felt pretty yucky afterward with all the sweets we inhaled. :( On top of that, Logan gummed a brittle gingersnap cookie that I gave him to try - which made a HUGE muddy mess all over him, and me.

When will I ever learn?

Once we arrived into Wellington, we were all pretty tired and hungry. Our hotel was in a strange setup - in the middle of a street mall, with no parking directly under or next to the hotel. Instead, they have spaces reserved in a parking lot a few buildings away. We got turned around (which pissed Eric off) trying to find that damn parking lot since the streets weren't clearly labeled and the hotel and parking lots were both on hills which made things more confusing (the lobby was on the 4th floor if you came in from one direction, but "ground" floor if you came in from another). After a long day's drive, it was the last thing we wanted to deal with.

When we finally checked into our room however, the hotel was actually pretty nice and schwanky. We ordered Indian to be delivered (we were craving it ever since we got denied at lunchtime), watched TV and let Logan crawl all over the place, which he absolutely LOVED. Especially since the coffee table, which was a modern design, had all these cut outs that he could crawl under, through or peek up at us from.

Our suite actually had a washer/dryer, so I did a load of laundry but MAN the dryer was super weak and the clothes were still damp the next morning after three rounds!! :( There are some things back home that I would definitely miss if we ever lived abroad.

Logan fell asleep shortly after dinner and seemed to sleep the best he's ever slept yet. I wonder if it could be because of all the exercise he got crawling around the room once we checked in?

Hmmmm, we may be onto something here.