Hey everybody 👋

Before I share the travels, I wanted to share something we were watching in early January. We saw a movie called The Mole Agent at the Latin American Film Festival in New Plymouth a few months ago - we found it well done but sobering. We were pleasantly surprised to see that it had been adapted into a series by the talented Michael Schur (The Good Place) on Netflix. This adaptation added a bit of comedy to the issues of aging. Highly recommended!

Back to the travels ... we were pet sitting in Kinloch on Lake Taupo (largest lake in NZ and 21 minutes from Taupo, the largest town on the lake) until January 8th. 🧭

This was a windy day and Mac's ears were flying! 💨

The pet owners had part of a coffee cart business so they had a professional grade machine at home. I was honored to be shown how to use it but I was no barista. So delicious! ☕️

Why use on a dog bed when a lap is available? 😆

Someone asked me (hi G!) about the item poking out of Steve's bag from the Taupo market in the last post. 👋

According to Wikipedia :

The hei-tikiis an ornamental pendant of the Māori of New Zealand. Hei-tiki are usually made of pounamu (greenstone), and are considered a taonga (treasure) by Māori. They are commonly called tiki by New Zealanders, a term that originally refers to the first mortal. (The word hei in Māori can mean "to wear around the neck".) Retailers sell tourist versions of hei-tiki throughout New Zealand—these can be made from jade, other types of stone, plastic, or other materials.

We see these everywhere in so many shapes, forms, and materials. I was quite taken with a table full of these made of wool so we selected one to travel with us. Meet Mickey. 😊

They liked to share. 🤝

Our new neighbor friends, Ann and Dennis, invited us on a New Year's Eve progressive cocktail party so we joined the at the first two homes on the tour. What a lovely community! 🥂

We stopped Duane and Chloe's house first and were delighted with a pavlova! Steve had mentioned to Duane a few days earlier that we had heard about this holiday tradition but had never tried one. Much to our surprise, it appeared just as we were about to leave their house. 🎂

Duane and Chloe's son Blake considered cutting it with one of his swords but Duane took over. 🗡️

First pavlova, or pav, as they called it. 😋

We walked over to the next house, Anne and Dennis, where mudslides were on offer. The street is named Kanuka Grove and this festive sign greeted us. 🥳

The sunset was spectacular. Steve and I headed back to the pets and enjoyed the hot tub to ring out the old year. 🌅

New Year's Day dip in Lake Taupo! 💦

We took an electric sailboat on Lake Taupo to see the Maori carvings. It was a beautiful day! Doesn't everyone keep a helicopter on the lake?!?! 🚁

The trip started out nice and then the weather got windy and then very windy! 💨

Beautiful. 📸

Fortunately, the sun came out and we sailed back with the wind. ⛵️

Steve set out with his new friend Greg for a heli-ibike tour. Unfortunately, the wind grounded the helicopter so instead of starting at the top and riding down, they rode up and up. 🚲

More sharing. 🐾

We had so much fun playing in this lovely yard. Especially at sunset. 🦴

I might have imagined this but I thought this coffee crema looked like Mac. 🪞

We really enjoyed hosting Anne and Dennis after all their kindness. 😍

No big deal, just some black swans on a very choppy Lake Taupo. 🦢

Nick and Heather who we met in Wellington last year were passing through Taupo so we got to stroll along the lake and catch up with them. 🍺

Huka Falls on New Zealand's longest river, the Waikato, were spectacular. 📸

The Aratiatia Rapids were also impressive. 📸

Thousands of litres of water are released from the Aratiatia Dam creating a spectacular flow of water through a narrow gorge ... millions of litres of water are unleashed from Aratiatia Dam, forming thundering turquoise-coloured rapids over ancient volcanic remnants.

For the Hobbit fans, some of the filming was done here:

Some of the most memorable scenes from Peter Jackson's movie The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug are the dwarves escaping from the captivity of the Elves by hiding in barrels that were thrown downstream.

More books! 📚

I think they were expecting a speech or snacks or something. 🎤

We tried another dip in the lake but the winds were so epic that the swimming platform was beached. 🌬️

We had to settle for an ankle dip. 👣

Finally got my new bike out on a trail ride with Steve along the Whangamata Stream. 🚲

A night out in Taupo with Anne and Dennie - delicious lamb vindaloo! 🌶️

The final dip! 🤿 

One last sunset. 🌅

The pet owners (hi Donna and Rex!) were delayed getting home so we met them on the road. We were heading down to Wellington to take the ferry across the Cook Strait to the South Island and they were coming up from the same place. We grabbed coffee and shared our experiences. Such a lovely couple with a beautiful home and terrific pets. We will miss them! 🤗

The South Island was next. ⛴️