Taupo

Dec. 23 - We had gone to the local AA office to get some maps and directions on the best route to Taupo, so we headed out. We had to back tract through the Scenic Reserve, but we were prepared for it this time. We managed to follow the directions for the most part, but we took a wrong turn about somewhere (their road signs here are not made for tourists - very poor) and it actually worked out ok - the road was pretty good and it was a short cut - lucky this time. We were staying with some friends from Calgary, Ken and Linda Wolfe. Ken is an old hockey buddy of Bob's and Ken and Linda live in Taupo six months and in Calgary six months. They have a lovely villa type home in Taupo and they made us very comfortable. (Taupo is a nice little holiday town at the north end of a large lake that was created after some volcanic activity in the area many, many years ago. ) We visited the Golf Club (36 holes) and signed up for their summer membership - $350 each. The weather had been cool and cloudy for most of the month, but we made plans to play the next day. You don't really need to book a time - you just sort of show up and play which every course is the least busy. One course is Tahara and is wider and shorter and the other course is called Centennial and is their championship course and is much longer - over 6000 yards for the ladies. The elevation at Taupo is about 2000 feet above sea level, so we felt more at home with our club selection because the ball went farther than the courses we had played at sea level in Australia.

We spent Cristmas Eve with Linda's sister Theresa and her family in Turangi, about a 45 minute drive from Taupo at the south end of the lake. Her children were coming down from Auckland and Tauranga and Haley, the daughter, brought her Canadian boyfriend and his Canadian friend along. She cooked a nice turkey dinner and we had a great evening. On Christmas morning, we opened a few gifts, had a lovely breakfast and then went to play nine holes - golf on Xmas day, a first for us. We went back to Teresa's for a ham dinner with some of their NZ friends. It was very nice, but it didn't feel like Cristmas and we did miss our family and friends. Hope you all had a great holiday season wherever you were. We spent the next few days playing golf and sightseeing around the area. (Olga keeps winning in NZ - Bob kept winning in Oz - we'll see what the new year brings)