Sore Bums

Hi there,

We have now been in National Park for the last 5 days. National Park is a massive ski resort slap bang in the middle of NZ's north Island however during the summer months there is still a lot to do such as hill walking, climbing, Mountain Biking, White Water rafting etc.

Unfortunately however we experienced somewhat monsoon conditions during the first three days during which we did little more than drive around the area.

We have also been entertained by a mad but lovely Geordie couple in the apartment next to us. They are pensioners who are tavelling round the Island. In typical Geordie fashion the guy, Neil has brought no trousers or long sleeve tops with him..he does however have a remarkable collection of bermuda shorts.

On Tuesday we heard that the weather was far better back in Taupo and as such we drove back there with the intention of doing a bit of Para-Sailing only to discover that they were not running that day due to (apparently) high winds.

We consled ourselves with a trip to Taupo Museum and then on to the local swimming pool, a massive complex with indoor and outdoor pools and two large slides, the slides are fully enclosed and has the effect of amplifying any noises you make...I thinik that Aoifa just about deafened the whole complex with her screeching as she flew down.

Thankfully the sun came out big time yesterday and to celebrate Aoifa had the crazy idea of going for a 20KMontain Bike ride through the National Park. It turns out that Aoifa is a fairly competent Mountain Biker, I on the other hand suck, my whole body aches today (especially my Bum) and I think I eventually managed to break the bike in the final few hundred metres....that said some of the views on the track were aboslutely stunning and when you are bombing down the side of a hill it is actually very good fun and I suppose it's about time I did some exercise this holiday.

Our last day in NP today and thankfully the sun is back out, we plan to go for a (gentle) walk before getting an early night so we are fresh for our trip up to Coromandel tomorrow.