Road Trip #3 - New Years 2007 (Part 1)

Yup I'm still playing my little game of catch up in cyberspace...

I'm not sure if I mentioned this before but last year around August, one of my friends in South Africa gave me a call and said he was thinking of coming to New Zealand. I was ready with a few pointers of course and would you believe it, one week later he had bought his plane ticket! Now Pieter was scheduled to arrive in Auckland on 1 January, no jokes, he spent new years eve of 2007 crossing timezones at 35 000 feet!


I decided it a good excuse for another road trip so, 2 breaths after sparrow fart on 31 December 2006 I set off on the first leg of the journey. I planned to take a scenic route from wellington to Taupo, the halfway stop to Auckland, smack bang in the middle of the North Island.

I reached Taupo with daylight to spare. Here I had my first (and until now the last) bout of hayfever since being in New Zealand. After stopping at a pharmacy for a quick fix and treating myself to some 1st class curry for dinner I checked in at the backpackers. I've always known German people love beer and a good party but this new years eve I got first hand proof of it! I shared the backpackers with quite a few tourists being 1 American and like 15 Germans. Great people for sure! At 12am, 1 January was welcomed with fireworks and German drinking songs... Funny funny. Soon after 12 I retired to get ready for a early start...

Following my trusted and proven method of staying away of the beaten track, I found a few quaint sites and enjoyed serene scenes. Here are a few to share...

Leaving Wellington

Keeping under the speed limit

Little back-country church, pretty isn't it?

Hills in the country side

Windfarm outside Palmerston North

Desert Road - The eastern side of Mt Ruapehu

The Tui beer brewery - World famous in New Zealand :)

What the???

Lake Taupo just before sunset

Majestic Mt. Ruapehu behind lake taupo