November 8, 2015 Napier. NZ

Today we headed out from Rotorua going to Napier. We left early enough to make sure we could take in a visit to the Huka Falls, near Taupo

The cruise we wanted was the more sedate option that leaves from the Aratiatia dam on the Waikato River downstream from the falls and the Taupo Lake. First of all though, is the excitement of the dam opening as it does a few times a day, ostensibly to allow us tourists to see what the Aratiatia rapids must have been like. The dam itself has a bunch of turbine power generators, so the river itself is still flowing, just not the bit between the dam and the bottom of the rapid. Not all that exciting, to be honest.

Aratiatia dam, Waikato River NZ

Aratiatia part-time rapids, Waikato River NZ

The cruise itself was quite enjoyable with a good commentary on the river environment, the highlight being the new bridge for the highway

Highway Bridge Waikato River Taupo NZ

the geo thermal power station and of course, the Huka falls. I was expecting a typical waterfall, you know, where the water falls over a cliff down 20 metres of so and into a big pool. Wrong. Its actually a horizontal falls, where the fall is only a few meters but through a narrow rock gorge over about a 100 metres. The amount of water coming through is huge, it could fill my pool up in 1/3 of a second.

Huka Falls from the Waikato River, NZ

Part of the gorge connecting Lake Taupo to the Waikato river 

From here we headed into town, but had to stop and grab a snap of the Ruapehu Volcano covered in late season snow. I had to take a snap the DC3 at Maccas as well.

Mt Ruapehu, NZ

DC3, Taupo NZ

Finally we made it into Napier, but only after we were foiled a 100m from the hotel by a bridge closed for some push bike race they were having. Napier is known as the art-deco capital of the world largely due to its having been rebuilt in the 1930s after an earthquake flattened the place. Our hotel is probably one of the best examples

County Hotel, Napier NZ

Art deco lampshades in our room. County Hotel, Napier NZ

Napier is a nice enough sort of place: we wandered up to and along the beach front and down through the open shopping malls and finally back to the hotel for an early night in.

Today we got up and went straight out onto the road, attacking the 315km still to go to Wellington, but no matter how we tried, it just seemed to take forever. We stopped for breakfast at a nice little town and again later for a coffee, but the real challenge was yet to come. The drive over the mountain range. The road snakes up and up and up for an age, and then of course snakes its way back down the other side, all done in low gear and trying to be light on the brakes, to be sure, to be sure. Eventually we made it into Wellington proper after a 6 1/2 hour trip and found our hotel before walking down to the large shopping centre to stock up on some food. We even caught a bus back and are now sitting around sipping wine. I have to also add that it's damn cold outside, its been odd actually: we started in fog and cool, it went up to 22 degrees then down to 10 then back up to 25 snd now i think its about zero!. Had to go find the jeans and shoes and a jumper. Rats.