Our arrival in Taupo marked the start of a new adventure for all three of us. Jane and I had intended to go on our initial tour but got too distracted by the beauty of the coastlines here. Little did we know, it is actually possible to surf on Lake Taupo sometimes!

The gargantuan body of water sits right in the middle of the central plateau and often picks up quite a breeze. As Ellie was still feeling a little worse for wear, we let her sleep (after the serious effort of putting her tent up) whilst we went to the fabled Pak N' Save - otherwise known as the Kiwi Lidl, to stock up on supplies.

We couldn't resist going to take a look at the lake and upon arrival we stepped out of the van and were almost floored by beauty (and a gale-force wind).

The following day, we decided to hire some bikes from the campsite and, as she’s been feeling a bit better with her ankle over the last week or so, even splashed out on an e-bike for Jane. The route around Taupo is a rather daunting 160km so we decided to take on just a small proportion of that.

There are some rather interesting birds (actual birds, I'm not a cockney chauvinist) in New Zealand and Taupo exhibits an especially haunting kind. Black swans (or as we shall forever refer to them, Goth birds), are in abundance, adding a darkness to this beautiful part of the country.

We sped along the gravel track, greeting the many dog walkers (to get to their dogs) and had a great time.

We did have to sit on the floor in order to eat lunch as we couldn't find any shelter other than a bank of reeds. Ellie's selfie skills also need some refining so we have very little evidence of this but lots of very blurry pictures of us laughing! I also found a very glamorous pink masquerade mask which made me feel very special indeed.

We just about made it back to the e-bike rental place on time and headed back to laze in the pool. I say pool, more like wallowing hole. It was so nice to exercise with Jane after so many months of having to leave her indoors. Perhaps today's vicious cycle will end the vicious cycle?