HOMEWARD BOUND

 We left Napier around 8.20 am. 

So far the trip has gone well. 

Hit wet weather half way between Napier and Taupo. 

We stopped at a Lookout and were thrilled to find it was a lookout over Waipunga Falls, which are amazing.

Within minutes of taking a video and photos it started bucketing down. Very lucky to get there before the rain.

We are now between Taupo and Tokorora.

Need to be home by 2 as lol, lost reception.

So we want to be home by 1-2 as we are expecting Stew's sister Khady this afternoon. 

She's on her way back up to Auckland to work on Allie's estate.

We are just coming into Tirau. Time is 11.20 so we are still making excellent time.

Right.  Khady called in.  And so did Steve, Bex and the boys.

I will talk about Khady tomorrow.

For now, a photo BOMB of our trip away:

WEDNESDAY:

ABOVE:  Wairakei.... steam field.

ABOVE:  a small amount of snow on Ruapehu.

ABOVE: Arriving into Palmy.  Almost like coming home again.

ABOVE:  Always wonderful catching up with these girls.  Nice to see Anne out and about again too.

ABOVE:  Our dinners on Wednesday night, at Navajo, Palmerston North.  VERY nice meals.

THURSDAY:

ABOVE:  Our lunch in Petone, at Janus Bakkerij.  It was absolutely delicious!

ABOVE:  Totally worth a visit if you are ever there!

Now, slightly out of synch, but never mind:

ABOVE:  Heading down to Wellington on Thursday, Ruahine Ranges.

ABOVE:  Travelling on Transmission Gully Motorway for the first time.  It was smooth, steep and very uninspiring really.

ABOVE:  A very grey day in Wellington.

ABOVE:  After lunch, shopping in Central Wellington with Karen.

Karen has fairly fragile health right now, and walking was difficult.  So we only went to two places, within coo ee of each other.

ABOVE:  Dinner and birthday cake was at Buddah Stix in Petone.  

Stew had a Tai Green Curry, which he enjoyed.

FRIDAY:

ABOVE: We travelled over the Rimutaka Hills.  First time on that road.  And last time!

Scary, steep and windy.

ABOVE: We stopped in Greytown for these Sour lollies from The Lolly Jar shop.

Steve loves them.

NAPIER:

ABOVE: The view from our Motel.  So lovely.

ABOVE:  A few random foreshore photos.  The water feature?  You could step on the button set in the concrete to activate it.  It turned off after a couple of minutes.

ABOVE:  The gorgeous sunken garden along the foreshore.  The city council has done an amazing job making the foreshore gorgeous!  So much to see and do (skateboarding park etc).  Very impressed with it all.

ABOVE:  My photo of the day.... inside the sunken garden. 

ABOVE: I must admit to snaffling a few cuttings!

The one on the right was very prickly down me bra I might add!

ABOVE: Dinner Friday night was at Lone Star.  As usual, lovely dinners.

SATURDAY:

ABOVE:  View up Bluff Hill...

ABOVE:  Two more views up Bluff Hill.

ABOVE:  A lovely pier on the main beach.

ABOVE:  Lovely old building (above this one), and a fairly famous statue of Pania.  Google it.

ABOVE:  We drove towards Cape Kidnappers, this is as far as you could go in your own car.  You could pay for a tour (yeah, nah), or walk along a coastal track (again, yeah nah, it was hours and hours long).

ABOVE: Cape Kidnappers way, way off to the left.

ABOVE X's 3:  More foreshore photos.  

ABOVE:  A gorgeous photo of succulents in a garden on the foreshore.  I got down on my knees to get that photo... and while down there I MIGHT have snaffled a piece of it.

Well, yes, yes I did.

    ABOVE:  Dinner Saturday night at Drift, which was just down from our motel.

ABOVE:  Stew had a seafood Laksa, which was lovely.  I had a chicken breast wrapped in bacon, with a creamy sauce.  I opted not to have the seasonal vegetables (corn, beans and carrots).  So my dinner was bloody awful, thanks to the tiny piece of chicken being dry as fuck.  I was not impressed. 

ABOVE:  more of that cute little button activated water fountain.

ABOVE:  We went to Taradale (a suburb of Napier) to visit a fabric shop.  There was a small gathering of ladies partaking in 'World Knit Day'.  One of them had made this knitted cover for her car.

I'm NOT tempted to do it for mine, don't even ask!

SUNDAY:

ABOVE:  Waipunga Falls.. you would never know they were there, there's just a small sign saying 'Lookout'.  So glad I asked Stew to turn into the road that lead up to the lookout.

I'd love to go there again one day.  Apparently there's a walk and a bridge that you can go on to get up closer to the falls.

ABOVE: Lastly for today... fields outside of Tokoroa that have been dug up by some sort of machine.  I have NO IDEA why you would do that to perfectly good fields!

I will add a few more photos tomorrow, taken this afternoon.

For now, I'm done.

Catch ya tomorrow.