The Big Carrot

Tuesday March 25th

Exactly what it says. On our long trip from Wellington to Lake Taupo, we visited a big carrot.

This day wasn't ever going to be too exciting.  It is a long way from Wellington to Lake Taupo, about 400k, which even on a good motorway would take 4 hours.  And although we are on the main road in New Zealand, State Highway 1, joining the largest city and the capital, its not a motorway.  In fact the roads in New Zealand are like how they were in Ireland 20 years ago, but if traffic volumes are low enough do you need motorways.  The answer is yes if the distances are painful, and this is.  I don't know how anyone drives from Wellington to Auckland in a day, and I know they can't take the train as thats not much better here.

But I digress, although thats all there really is to do.  Poor Paul has the hard job of the day as the only driver, so it is up to him to do it all.  We do get some welcome breaks along the way, we pass by a cookie shop in an old DC3 painted to look like a cookie, so obviously we have to stop there.  A less obvious stop is a giant carrot in Okahune.  This is mainly because it is an extra 50k out of our way, and to be fair it is a long enough day already.  But Clare likes her picture with big things, so we do the diversion. 

The main feature of the journey is the last 100k, all of which is either in the shadow of Mount Tongariro, our trekking destination for later, or alongside Lake Taupo, which is a lake formed in the caldera of an ancient super volcano.  The scenery is spectacular as usual.

That evening the other pair are tired, so after dinner I head out for a drink in the local Irish bar.  There is a pub quiz on, which I get roped into, and then a slightly strange clothes swapping competition which I don't get roped into.  An interesting night.