Day 56, in which we shelter from Rene

Today is our final day in the Smokehouse and our final day of pottering around and unwinding before we get back on the road to See More Stuff. We'd imagined we'd be able to spend every day swimming in the lake, but in truth it's been raining so much it has been hard to build up the willpower to brave the stormy waters. We also thought we'd be able to visit the toilet freely, but as it's about ten feet from the back door we've learned to hold it in during the storms.

Apparently the storms are a by-product of something called Cyclone Rene, who is coming to visit over the next few days after tearing apart Tonga. Thankfully it sounds like most of his rage was used up in Tonga, but it still doesn't bode well for what we hoped would be a week spent exploring the sunny beaches of North Island.