NZ Holiday - Rotorua to Napier

Off to Hawkes Bay - October 9th 2012

Rotorua - mind the holes - potholes with a difference

 Rotorua - Maori Meeting House

Art  Deco in Napier Am in the habit of giving breakfast boiled eggs a quick sniff before eating. Not much point here because bad egg smells are the order of the day. Rotorua is very interesting and different though. Happily, a much brighter day saw us out on the mountain bikes for a ride by Lake Rotorua and through Kuirau Park. Our Motel host gave us a good route that avoided any traffic. Bit of a unique experience pedalling along between the bubbling mud and steaming sulphur. Happily there were no blow-outs caused by the blow holes and we made it back to the car at around lunchtime and headed off for Napier. The road was good all the way to Taupo, all the logging trucks were going in the opposite direction. One of many 'trunk roads'. Forestry is a big industry over here with vast areas given over to pine forests. Unfortunately that does mean that the massive logs have to be transported and they use large lorries with an attached trailer and they really hammer along.  From Taupo to Napier, the Thermal Explorer Highway road went pretty high and was a bit twisty, not good for the passenger but very scenic. We made it over the top in our little Yaris and descended into the Hawkes Bay area with its vines and blooming orchards. Pretty awesome, as they say. The smart streets of Napier We made it to Napier in good time to go to the I-Site and the lady at the desk was excellent and sent us to a nice motel she had recently checked out. Napier was hit by an earthquake in the early 30's and it was  rebuilt in an art-deco style. They still put on the style today and it is a very smart city centre. As it was school holidays the beach and the attractions were pretty busy. Plenty of people out on the beach side walk taking some sea air in the evening sunshine.We grabbed a meal in a recently refurbished restaurant, The Emporium, recommended by the i-Site. Good beer, tasty meal and excellent service at a fair price. All in all we couldn't fail to get a good impression of Napier on our very short visit.