Day three started with a run along the shore and along trails with fellow Nuffield13 scholar and fantastic host Sophie Stanley. Sophie put Tom and myself up overnight at her parents beach house 100 yards from Lake Taupo. After Sophies we headed just out of Taupo to see the Haku falls, where hundreds of cubic meters of water every second leave lake Taupo and start the journey to the sea in the form of the Waikato river.
Headed south on state highway number one along the southern side of lake Taupo and turned south on the Desert road. the landscape changed, almost at every turn, from wooded areas, to managed or cleared forest and the climbing up on moorland. The volcano's are still active in New Zealand and the soils are young, some still resembling the moon scape.
The views form here were spectacular in every direction. Rolling hills and steep grassy sides. There were some very steep areas that had been sprayed off, we presumed ahead of a reseed operation. We stopped briefly to take in the views and then continued our journey onto Fielding to meet Dr John Baker.
Tom and I arrived just after lunch at the home of the Cross Slot team team in Fielding. We were introduced to John and Bill and then had a tour of the factory and offices. The factory floor was well organised and you could tell from meeting the staff the pride they haven their design, product and manufacturing creativity. It seems to me the Cross Slot drill is like a Morgan car. Hand built to your specification, the best that you can get. John mentioned a sense of pride, providing a product for the top end of the market for top end farmers.
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