Marton to Tauranga

We spent our last night in Marton at the new NZMCA camp in the town as we were quite keen to see what it was like. There were quite a lot of other vans there with several of them , including the President, being en-route to the Easter Rally in New Plymouth. The camp is quite well set up compared with others, being the only one we have stayed in with toilets. There was a clothes line, potable water, a shower but no hot water, a barbecue and some trees for shade.
We joined several of our neighbours for Happy Hour before dinner and were one of the first to leave camp in the morning as we wanted to drive all the way to Taupo! - Much further than we usually travel in a day and of course we had to stop for a game of golf on the way -this time at Turangi, a course we have played on a couple of times before and enjoy. Think we must have played too many games in a row this time though and our scores suffered a little from tiredness! We were told we were welcome to stay the night, the club just having listed itself on the NZMCA site. They have plenty of showers but unfortunately no hot water at the moment.
Then it was on to Rainbow Point, just before Taupo, where my good schoolfriend, Sally, and her husband Dave have just retired to from Auckland. They have a beautiful new home with views of the lake and lots of special features and it was great to enjoy their wonderful hospitality and catch up on the news of the last few months. There was a bed for us inside but, as usual, we were quite content in out little bus which we parked on the driveway.

Sally & Dave's Taupo home

Their house is very close to the new Lion's funded cycle path which goes along the edge of Lake Taupo from further round the bays right into town so the next morning Len and I hopped on our bikes and went as far as we could South and then back along the path into town. Lots of walkers out and the lake is so warm generally and even hot in a couple of places where thermal streams are flowing into the lake. It's certainly a beautiful spot and the path is a fantastic asset. In fact it probably one of Len's ideal spots with it's lake and mountain views, not unlike the Lake District.

Taupo Blue View!

Wednesday, we arrived back in Tauranga and have been camped on the lawn outside Colin and Carlene's, spending the last few days catching up with all the family, including David and Christine who are over from Sydney. Lots of happy times catching up, eating too much with all the wonderful food that Carlene and Christine have been producing, watching the grandchildren hunt for Easter Eggs and then eat too many of them and generally being rather lazy although we did join Sandra and her 3 boys for a walk up the Mount on Friday morning before heading to our house to get the garden tidied up and the hedge cut. Only half of it done so far as instead of finishing it today we have been playing in a golf scramble at our home club, Omanu. Len did well with 41 stableford points but I rather underperformed. My excuse is that the fairways have just been cored, the grass is long and so the ball isn't running well and I did too many shots on the par 3s! Don't know why it didn't worry Len! Amazing to see so much green on the fairways compared to all the brittle, brown courses we have been playing on and also to see so many others playing - we so often have a course all to ourselves!