new zealand [day four]

On Day Four we woke up early, eager to get going - actually, as our body clocks were set to Norfolk time, we woke up early every morning. The kids amused themselves on New Zealands biggest 'jumping pillow' while we fried up a breakfast feast in the caravan park kitchen. It was a freezing cold morning so Harry and Till had the entire playground to themselves...I guess all the sensible tourists were staying cosy indoors. After refilling the water tank and emptying the you-know-what tank, we took to the open road again. Our main aim for the day: to reach Napier.

and the count down is on...yep,  one minute, twelve seconds - we got here just in time!

Ten kilometres north of Lake Taupo, we arrived here (photo above) just in time to see the spill gates open, thus creating the Aratiatia rapids. As the gates were opened, the narrow gorge filled with turbulent water surging through at around 90,000 litres per second. It was a pretty amazing sight and one we completely fluked!

quick Mum...take the photo FAST...we're freezing our tooshie's off

 

Look very carefully...can you see it? This was our first glimpse of New Zealand snow. You can't imagine how excited we were. Little did we know what was to come later in our trip. As we drove closer towards Napier we were stunned to see snow capped mountains on one side of our van and black sandy beaches on the other!

Coming from Norfolk, Harry and Till just couldn't get over this pebbly beach! Sure, yellow sand is nice to walk on and play in, but I think pebbly beaches are pretty too. Ben and I remember walking on beaches just like this in the UK!

quality family moment....let's BE the statue!

We stopped for fish and chips in Napier and then cruised around for a bit looking at the Art Deco buildings. To be honest, we weren't that fussed on Napier itself. It just didn't meet our expectations. There was quite a mish mash of buildings (old and new, with the new not fitting in with the old) and the streets were higgelty piggetly. Maybe I expected to step back in time to the 1930's! Perhaps I need to visit again...to see if I can't find what I thought was missing! Sometimes one must go somewhere more than once to get a proper feel for it, right!?

Leaving Napier we drove into darkness, passing what may have been a spectacular sight (it's possible we missed a pretty impressive water filled gorge - oh well...next time). Oh we could have stopped I suppose, but our guide aka Ben had booked our ferry crossing to the South Island for later that week, so edging closer to Wellington was necessary. I should mention that somewhere around Palmerston North we passed an amazing playground with a ginormous viking ship. If it had been day time, we would have stopped to play for sure! If you are visiting the area with kids, it's worth checking out.  Around 9pm we rolled into a free camp just outside Levin. It was here we laid our weary heads to rest for the night. Emerging from the van the next day, we were greeted by some lovely local sheep!!!

Onwards we go...to Wellington

need a re-cap so far?

Day One

Day Two

Day Three