Bedtime Wrap

Today was ultimately a mix bag; there was some beautiful scenery and great food but was marred by a few moments of 'urgh!'

The day started off with a visit to a historic village that boasted a collection of unique craft stores. It delivered a ghost town that was going though major repairs. However we did locate the TARDIS sans The Doctor through.

The day continued with a look at some local falls; McLaren Falls and a visit to the grounds of a former mission. It was interesting to notice the stark contrast in historic events when told by a society managing the grounds of a former Christian Mission and the Maori people running the tours at Waitangi Treaty Grounds.

The day took a turn for the worse as we headed out for Naiper, Hawkes Bay. The combination of slow vehicles, winding roads and roadworks pushed our travel time for a 211km trip out to roughly four hours.

We also had an unplanned pit stop at Putaruru, after a truck threw a rock into our windscreen which started cracking at an alarming rate. A particularly unhelpful call to Thrifty and we forked out money to get the windscreen fixed and hour of our time.

A phone call to the surf company in Whangamata who had thoughtfully hung onto my drivers license was enlightening. It turns out as we left in the nick of time, the entire peninsula flooded the afternoon we left. The flooding does mean that my licence has now been misplaced, most likely indefinitely. On the plus side we didn't get marooned in Whangamata and I now had a legitimate reason to visit my New Zealand colleagues.

We finished the day with wine and good food at local eatery in Naiper. Easily the best food we have had on our trip, which left us both feeling reinvigorate for tomorrow.

Lysa XO

P.S. Check out the oversized furniture in our room. We are still wondering how anyone managed to get it in here.Read more