How many points for a poodle?

To say we were on the busiest campsite yet, the young girl playing her guitar and singing beautifully lulled me into the best night's sleep so far and it was certainly quiet throughout the night. We parked up the van early at Huka Falls and went off road with the bikes down river from the Falls to the Aratiata Rapids and Dam. It was much more my type of off road track with interesting bits but no real scary stuff. Tony was up front and met the lady with the poodle, but thankfully didn't take her out. We arrived at the Dam just before the 10am release to create the rapids for the power boat trips to enjoy. It was very spectacular watching all the pools fill and overfill deep down in to the valley. We crossed the dam and took the track back up towards Huka, stopping at The Hub cafe for the daily cuppa. I had a most yummy piece of spiced plum pie with ice cream and we had a long, lovely chat with a woman who emigrated here in 1974. She spotted our Grand Depart cycling jerseys and heard the accents and she originally lived close to where I used to teach in Bradford.

From there we cycled back to Huka Falls where I took my blip, did some shopping for the Crossing tomorrow in Taupo and drove south around the eastern side of the very beautiful Lake Taupo to arrive here, high in Tongariro National Park at another freedom campsite called Te Porere Historic Site. We have crossed the stream and walked up to the Maori fortifications which was the site for one of the Taranaki Land wars. Now it's time to prepare dinner as an early night is called for (we are the only folks on this site at present!) with our shuttle transport booked for 6.30 am tomorrow morning!