Itinerary |
Napier |
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Te Kauwhata Rotorua Napier Wellington Kaikoura Akaroa Te Anau The Hollyford Track Queenstown Franz Joseph The Tranzalpine Train Paihia The NZ Trip Homepage |
Our drive to Napier, which was meant to happen in the morning, didn't happen until later in the afternoon, due to a mishap with the keys to the rental car that involved an extra set of keys being flown down from Auckland...
However, once on the road, it was a pretty interesting drive. We drove south to Lake Taupo, and then made a left through the Desert Road and over a range of mountains east to Hawke's Bay and Napier, on the coast. The view across Lake Taupo to Rangitoto, Ngarahoe and Ruapehu was pretty impressive, though we only drove past. We stopped for a meat pie and cup of tea at a tea room on the Desert Road. There was a misty rain storm as we went through the mountains that made driving frankly terrifying, but Josh did a great job. We arrived in Napier around 6:00 PM and checked into the Tuscany Motor Lodge. It was the Cutest Bungalow Ever! and included a little kitchen. We were lateish getting into town, so we looked at the listings and found a likely-looking place down on the waterfront. We drove in and had a look around in the twilight. It was still early, but it was overcast from the rain. Napier is the "Art Deco Capital of the world" due to a massive earthquake in the 30s and the fact that it was re-built all at once, in the style that was popular at the time. The restaurant, Acqua, is in the Masonic Hotel right on Marine Parade, and specializes in seafood. The food was just great! We had oysters and a bruschetta thingy, then a little salmon and a turbot steak. And I had a glass of pinot noir from a local winery called Crossroads. After a walk on the Marine Parade in the dark we went back to the bungalow.
Wednesday
In the morning we made an early start. We went back in town and had a great frittata breakfast at one of the Art Deco cafes, called Thorp's, then we did a bit of a self-drive tour of some of the architecture. I took lots of pictures for Amy. On the way out of town, we went looking for the Crossroads winery, source of the tasty pinot noir from the night before. We bought a couple of bottle and set off south for Wellington. The drive south was nice. We went via Featherston and had a stop for another meat pie in a tiny village called Norsewood. Then south through the Rimutaka range and into the Hutt Valley. Driving the Rimutakas was unbelievably stressful. A) high twisty mountain roads, b) no guard rails and c) bloody insane tail-gating-at-100-kph Kiwi drivers. We arrived and settled in at the Bay Plaza Hotel on Oriental Parade. |
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