Turangi

This is Turangi which is just Souh of Taupo, a huge lake in the centre of the North Island. Taupo was a volcano which erupted hundreds of years ago before people lived in NZ, and some historians in China saw the smoke and ash. Renee's Aunty Jill, her husband Callum and Jill's 2 grown-up children Sam and Nicole all live in Turangi. Nicole has a 4 year old daughter, Bella, but Renee forgot to get a photo. This is a view from outside Jill and Callum's house. It was sunny but still quite cold, especially at night when the fire was going!There are a lot of trout in the Tongariro river in Taupo, and there is a Trout centre where they help preserve the numbers and breed trout. This is one of the breeding pools for 'teenage' fish.
This is a viewing tank in a stream which joins onto the Tongariro. We bought special trout food to feed them, and they seemed to like it!
We went up to Mount Ruapehu which is one of New Zealand's best skiing moutains. It's not ski season at the moment, as it's really too hot, but there is still snow right at the top. This is Patricia holding me in front of Ruapehu peak.
This is a view of Mount Ngaruahoe, another mountain alongside Ruapehu. All that snow fell the first night we were there.
This is an artistic picture Renee took of an icicle and patch of snow up Ruapehu
This is Jay, Renee's mum, on a bridge over the Tongariro river. There has been a lot of rain recently and the river is very full, otherwise there would be a lot of fisherman trying to catch trout.
This is me and Patricia beside the Tongariro.

Next time, Renee promises to get more pictures of her family!