June 2, 2012: I landed in Sydney at 6:30am today. I found Matt coming off his flight, and after a quick shower/breakfast at the lounge, we headed to our next flight to Auckland! We didn’t really have any plans for today other than to drive the 3 hours to Lake Taupo so we could be closer to Rotorua first thing in the AM. So we hopped in the Holden Commodore and took off driving, picking our route on a whim and strolling through the countryside.
As we drove and watched the sun drop, I thought “I’d really like to get up on one of these hills and watch the sunset.” Problem… all hills are heavily fenced for livestock, with all the roads cutting through the low valleys.. So I saw a little lady gardening, and pulled in.
I said we were from the US, wanted to catch a sunset while we were here, and asked if she had any ideas on how we could get up one. She then called over her husband Bill, who said “are you ready to hike?” YES! Bill, who’s lived on this land for 35 years, hopped in the back seat and guided us over to a nearby pasture/hill he owns. He pointed out the direction to go, and away we went. And it was totally worth it. Thanks, Bill! And sorry that your cows thought we were going to feed them.
After a quick detour to WardVille, we had McD’s for a quick supper with the stipulation that you could only order items not available at home. I went with the Sydney Stack, which had beetroot, bacon, bbq sauce and pineapple on it (?!). Interesting.
And just when we thought our day was pretty great, we pulled into the Hilton Lake Taupo. But you know what? That deserves its own post.
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