Fresh water to salt water

CC took the panoramic view from the patio of our Lake Taupo apartment, featuring slightly steamy lake water. Here's the salt water view we arrived at by the end of the day:

We checked out of the Taupo apartment at 10am and went to Huka falls, meeting up with DS, M, and N after their drive from Auckland airport. M and N had flown in on a total of 24 hours of flights--LHR to SFO, then SFO to AKL. What a journey! DJS had flown up to Auckland to meet them and drove the rental car down.

In the following photos/video, we're waiting for the three of them to arrive...I will need to steal a full group photo from someone else's camera!

We stopped at a cafe in Taupo for coffee/snacks/lunch then headed south. 

It was mostly cloudy/occasionally raining, and unfortunately the two volcanoes were completely obscured. We could smell the evidence that one of them is rumbling away though.

We took a 15 minute detour to Gravity Canyon intending to consider doing some sort of crazy stunts there. The canyon was amazing--very thin in places and incredibly deep. But more amazing yet were the prices--$180 for a bungee jump, $155 (per person!) for a three-person flying fox. We hung around hoping to see someone take the financial and literal plunge, but no-one did so we returned to the highway and headed south again.

We arrived at the house in Paraparaumu at about 5pm. What an odd place! Rather run down and musty-smelling, with a strange arrangement of bedrooms. But a spectacular location right on the beach and stunning views from the living room/kitchen. I hope it starts to feel comfortable.

We met SS, HS, and RS at a restaurant called The Office, a couple of blocks down the waterfront. Will need to steal group photos of that from other people's cameras/phones as well.