Drive to Lake Taupo. Decide to trust Ursula’s sat nav (despite it taking us off the main highway) and drive onto smaller and smaller roads and then eventually turn onto a dirt track. The Toyota skids precariously. Where the hell are we? Feel like those idiots I normally laugh at who drive across fields and through tiny villages in articulated lorries because the sat nav tells them to. Nervous that the sat nav will fail on us and we will be lost for ever, but at the same time am wooed by the outstanding beauty of the countryside we are driving through – no other cars and barely a house in sight – the scenery is spectacular. See an eagle eating roadkill (or possibly other lost tourists) and a second one swoops in front of us. Too nervous to stop the car and get my camera out of the back in case it upsets the sat nav, but lap up the natural beauty surrounding us. Eventually (after the sat nav tried to direct us across a river) find our way out onto the highway (thank God). Arrive swiftly in Taupo and check into our motel (complete with our own hot springs fed outdoor tub and garden). This place is much nicer than Rotorua. We enjoyed the things we did in Rotorua, but didn’t think much of the town itself. Taupo is prettier and there is a pleasant cool breeze blowing across the lake. Drive into town to run some errands and stop into the Taupo Museum. Learn that Lake Taupo is the largest freshwater lake in Australasia and was formed by the world’s largest volcanic eruption of the past 5,000 years. Am excited at the thought of bathing in a volcanic crater! Outside the museum is a replica of the Orca Garden of Wellbeing (which won Gold at Chelsea Flower Show last year). Oh and there are some model military aeroplanes too…. guess where I found John? On the way to our car come across the most fabulous wine shop I’ve ever been in. It is called Scenic Cellars and has an amazing underground cellar with glass ceiling (which you can look down into from the main shop). It has over 100,000 bottles of rare and fine wine. Am in heaven! Restrict purchases to 3 bottles and later walk along the beach, swim in our motel pool and then dinner, followed by a spell in our outdoor hot tub. It starts to rain (first time since we’ve been here). It’s very hot in the tub and lean back to enjoy the cool rain run down my face and shoulders.