Day 7

Taupo -

Susan, Ed, Ronnie, Norrie, Joe, and Fran left at 5:30 to do the Tongariro Crossing. This is a day hike that crosses Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings. It's supposed to be the best dayhike in New Zealand. Thanks to the earplugs I didn't hear anyone and had a fabulous sleep-in. This was a day off for me with no activities lined up, so Andrea and I went for a walk around Taupo's downtown. There are some great art galleries here. Andrea bought a beautiful bronze figurine of a girl sitting cross legged and reading. We asked the gallery lady to suggest some good New Zealand cuisine restaurants and she gave us a brochure for the Brantry Restaurant - which has gotten a ton of awards and just happens to be owned by her two daughters. We collected Susan after her hike (bone tired and hungry) and headed out there, stopping at the world's poshest McDonalds along the way so Susan could have an ice-cream cone. The restaurant was beautiful! It's one of those where the waiperson puts your napkin on your lap for you. I had a pumpkin soup and ostrich fillet with artichoke lemon mash. Andrea had the ostrich and a plum tart tatine, and Susan had baby squid and a lemon ice souffle. We skipped out on a sail on the lake to do the dinner and I think it was a fantastic choice. It was so nice to eat in a nice restaurant with phenomenal food. After dinner Susan and Andrea went to do email and such and I went off with some of the rest of the group to another hot pool. This one had a hot waterfall running into a small lagoon. Very nice. I also learned what the southern Cross looks like.

Afterwards we went possum hunting. Steve the tour guide asked if we wanted to see possums and we said yes. We found them all around the Taupo bungy jump site. They look like a cross between a koala and a racoon without the stripes or mask.Very cute, but a real pest in New Zealand. They're not indiginous and they're eating kiwi eggs and such, so New Zealand is trying to get rid of them.