Well even though our place was a dump, the sleeping was still fine, and the shower was hot, those are the two important things and they were acceptable. Got up around 8:00 or so and checked out of the dump and headed back to the café we had lunch in yesterday for breakfast and then off to hike Huka Falls. The total walk was to be around 2 hours up and 2 hours back, so 
we figured it’d get up right up to lunch and then we could drive out to our next destination, Napier in Hawk’s Bay. The river rapids were pretty impressive, mainly because of the volume of water that rushes through them and then over the falls, which weren’t very high, but were still impressive with that amount of water flow. I have to say that the weather has been great since we’ve been here, but today was perfect. Great day for a long hike. The walk started out just going along side the river, which widened and slowed down after we got further upstream from the falls. After about a mile or so the trail moved in from the river and more towards the open prairie where we saw lots of sheep and cows. We walked right up on a baby cow that had just been born, we heard the noise and were wondering 
what it was, it was the baby crying when it popped out of mamma. It was just trying to walk and was still all wet. That was pretty cool.
We took about an hour and 45 minutes to do the walk from start to turn-around point, where there was a dam and on the other side was a river which very closely resembled the American river back home in Folsom, with tall rocks on either side. On our way back we stopped to see how the little calf was doing and another cow went over to check on it, then pooped on it’s head. I thought that odd, but the little guy took it in stride. He seemed to be just fine, and sleeping next to his mom.
By the time we got done hiking it was around 1:00 and time for lunch, so we headed back into Taupo to the same bar we were at yesterday to try and take advantage once again of the free internet connection there. We also caught the 1st inning of game 3 of the world series before leaving and driving off to the Hawk’s Bay region, where we planned to stay the next two nights in Napier.
The drive was nice, very open and green. Tons of sheep. We even passed a golf course that looked like it used sheep to mow the grass. There were people teeing off into a fairway full of sheep. That was pretty funny to see.
We arrived in Napier around 4:00 and had a few bed and breakfasts in mind so we drove though town til we found them and parked the car to go see who had vacancies. Here’s where the driving on the left side of the road takes it’s 1st toll. I (Mike) didn’t correctly gage the left side of the car when pulling over to the side of the road to park and brushed the tire on the curb, it pinched, and pop….flat tire. Turned out we were directly across the street from the bed and breakfast we ended up staying at, and found out that we were also just 1 block from a tire shop. Luckily there was no damage to the car other than the popped tire, so I put the spare on for now and will take the damaged tire to the shop tomorrow to get patched. Shouldn’t be too much of an issue.
Our Bed and Breakfast is very nice here, makes up for the dump of last night. Very quaint, all painted nicely and the owners were very friendly too. We’re about 2 blocks from downtown Napier, and we’re right along the street that runs along the waterfront. Napier is right on the east coast of New Zealand, on the Pacific Ocean.
We took a stroll into town to see what was there, ended up at an irish pub and had dinner there which was good for pub grub. On the walk back we found some other restaurants that looked interesting for tomorrow night, and we also found the information center which can give us some direction on activities for tomorrow, Marlo will go check that out while I handle the tire problem.
we figured it’d get up right up to lunch and then we could drive out to our next destination, Napier in Hawk’s Bay. The river rapids were pretty impressive, mainly because of the volume of water that rushes through them and then over the falls, which weren’t very high, but were still impressive with that amount of water flow. I have to say that the weather has been great since we’ve been here, but today was perfect. Great day for a long hike. The walk started out just going along side the river, which widened and slowed down after we got further upstream from the falls. After about a mile or so the trail moved in from the river and more towards the open prairie where we saw lots of sheep and cows. We walked right up on a baby cow that had just been born, we heard the noise and were wondering 
what it was, it was the baby crying when it popped out of mamma. It was just trying to walk and was still all wet. That was pretty cool.We took about an hour and 45 minutes to do the walk from start to turn-around point, where there was a dam and on the other side was a river which very closely resembled the American river back home in Folsom, with tall rocks on either side. On our way back we stopped to see how the little calf was doing and another cow went over to check on it, then pooped on it’s head. I thought that odd, but the little guy took it in stride. He seemed to be just fine, and sleeping next to his mom.
By the time we got done hiking it was around 1:00 and time for lunch, so we headed back into Taupo to the same bar we were at yesterday to try and take advantage once again of the free internet connection there. We also caught the 1st inning of game 3 of the world series before leaving and driving off to the Hawk’s Bay region, where we planned to stay the next two nights in Napier.
The drive was nice, very open and green. Tons of sheep. We even passed a golf course that looked like it used sheep to mow the grass. There were people teeing off into a fairway full of sheep. That was pretty funny to see.
We arrived in Napier around 4:00 and had a few bed and breakfasts in mind so we drove though town til we found them and parked the car to go see who had vacancies. Here’s where the driving on the left side of the road takes it’s 1st toll. I (Mike) didn’t correctly gage the left side of the car when pulling over to the side of the road to park and brushed the tire on the curb, it pinched, and pop….flat tire. Turned out we were directly across the street from the bed and breakfast we ended up staying at, and found out that we were also just 1 block from a tire shop. Luckily there was no damage to the car other than the popped tire, so I put the spare on for now and will take the damaged tire to the shop tomorrow to get patched. Shouldn’t be too much of an issue.
Our Bed and Breakfast is very nice here, makes up for the dump of last night. Very quaint, all painted nicely and the owners were very friendly too. We’re about 2 blocks from downtown Napier, and we’re right along the street that runs along the waterfront. Napier is right on the east coast of New Zealand, on the Pacific Ocean.
We took a stroll into town to see what was there, ended up at an irish pub and had dinner there which was good for pub grub. On the walk back we found some other restaurants that looked interesting for tomorrow night, and we also found the information center which can give us some direction on activities for tomorrow, Marlo will go check that out while I handle the tire problem.
1 comment:
Hi Mike and Marlo,
It's so cool to read about your expedition! Great job keeping us all posted...I'll look forward to more updates! BTW - you must be happy today.....it takes you going to another country for the Red Sox to do their stuff!!!
Enjoy.
Dawne
Post a Comment