Taupo

What a way to wake up! Waves crashing on the shore and seagulls flying around. Tom found a Bradshaw Estate Winery in the GPS but when we arrived it was unfortunately turned into a kindergarten. We headed back to Hastings where we wandered around for a bit before heading up to Napier. Once there, we checked out all the Art Deco around and the local museum that was housed in an old building and made use of the unfinished basement. We even had tea at Esquires Coffee, the same one that was in Kelowna!

Having had enough of earthquakes, we decided to continue north to Taupo. The drive was uneventful except for the large wind turbine farms around and the gorge we drove thru with the train following suit on the other side. It was quite evident once we had reached geothermal area, the stench was horrible and the large billows of steam coming from the ground were pretty good indicators. We stopped by chance at a lookout where we saw a magnificent waterfall, which was neat.

Once in Taupo, we lucked out again and discovered they too had a specific free-camping area set up! As it was later in the day, we headed straight there and settled in. It’s right alongside a pretty little river with lots of crazy ducks that are excited to see people.