Thursday 18th January 2018
Well the sunshine we had yesterday didn’t promise to come back today and hence we woke up to a grey and wet morning. During breakfast, we had our fingers crossed as we had planned to go on a Royal Tour through Napier on a ………..Tribike – a Supertrike! And after that trip, we were ready to hit the road again but not for too long as we were driving some 140 km to Taupo.
Anyway after checking out of the motel, we packed our car and left it on the parking place as we went for our last walk around – and by this time it had stopped raining and the sun was making a weak appearance! Again, I really enjoyed the Art Deco architecture and the way the town has been kept in great condition and showing a great appreciation for the architecture. I also saw a poster saying that there will be a great roaring twenties week in Napier in mid February – that would have been really great to attend as apparently most of the residents turn up in their flapper dresses and old timers are all on the road……….
We arrived at the i-Site place where we were picked up for our Royal Tour. Along with us, there was a NZ couple from Invercargill and we were the lucky ones to take the front seats behind our chauffeur. As this was the Royal tour, us ladies had to wear tiara’s and the men had to wear police officers’ hats as they were supposed to be our guards. It was quite fun as we were riding through town, everyone was waving at us ( apparently the locals are used to these sights!!) We went on a scenic tour of Art Deco Napier and Ahuriri – the latter is a really beautiful suburb made up of wooden houses which were not demolished through the earthquake – and actually we stopped in front of one little wooden house which is believed to be the oldest house in Napier – check this link
Luckily, all through our trip on the Supertrike, we had great weather! And after about an hour we were back at our starting point! Some pictures taken and then it was time to say goodbye to Napier! I really loved this town and would very much like to come and explore further as apparently we missed the harbour side where it’s full of bars and cafe’s and where it’s all happening – a one night stay over was not enough!!
We started driving around 13.30 and by then it started raining again! Gerry was the designated driver again. This time we went from the east coast to the middle of the North island – Taupo – and while we did stop a couple of times to take pictures we arrived at our point of destination within 2 hours.The route was scenic as we climbed up on e mountain range and down another and here the mountains are all rounded and there are no real peaks like those on the south island. By the time we arrived, everything looked dismal – grey skies, grey lake and grey roads – and we had thought that we would be having really great weather here.
Anyway we are staying at Huka Falls Resort – as we were told we have a villa!! A roomy cottage with living room, kitchenette, bedroom and bathroom and verandahs all round but unfortunately, we could not enjoy these on our first afternoon. As we’ve been quite some time on the road, we took all our baggage indoors and sorted everything so that we could do our laundry – we’ve got everything in this “villa” except a washing machine. And there are no laundry facilities on the resort!!!! So we went into town, following the directions we were given at the reception desk and finally found the self laundry – luckily for us there was a young couple who explained to us “seniors” how to use the machines and that we need an electronic key which needed to be loaded with cash and inserted in the washing machines and dryers – but we had to get this and purchase the key at another store…… so off we went and got that done. And now to start the machines.
The young couple were still there so they “supervised” us. Anyway as the washing was going on, we went to the supermarket to get some groceries ( we will be fixing our breakfast in the morning). By the time we came back our two loads of laundry was done and we chucked everything into one big dryer and went off for a coffee. By the time we got back, the 25 minutes were up and all I had to do was take out the clean laundry and fold it……..by the time we were ready with all our household chores, I was quite famished! We found this really good restaurant which was actually a South American cuisine, however we had a very good baked snapper with root vegetables and salad and by the time we got back to our “Villa” we were ready to call it a day. And yes we had to do that, as our WIFI wasn’t working properly and I only was aggravated by this fact, so better to go off to bed.
