Thursday, June 21
After having been warned that the weather would be atrocious on the east coast if we decided to travel there, we ended work at 3 today and Josh and I were looking forward to beginning our trip to the East and North Central parts of the North Island. I'd spent some time during the previous two weeks booking us in at what I would hope would be suitable accommodation...except for the first night which would be spent in Napier. I wasn't convinced to stay in a hotel there vs. sleeping in the car for a night...so, I didn't book anything there ahead of time. Our following three nights were booked ahead.
Well, I was starving after work...working a 10-3 schedule without a lunch break (eating only 2 granola bars during that time) added to my hunger. So, it was onto McD's before the trip could begin. Rather than trying to have Josh eat in the car whilst driving, we went inside to eat our food. Then, Josh realized he'd left the hotel confirmation print off at home so we stopped by the house before getting on the road to Napier.
Napier is a 2-2.5 hour drive northeast of Palmerston North. It is known as the Art Deco capital of the world and much of the city was destroyed by an earthquake in 1931. After driving mostly in the dark, we reached the city without a place to stay. Josh called the phone number of Bella Tuscany, a hotel I'd considered before the trip. They had a studio room available for $100/night which was $9 less than had I booked it online. The problem was that the hotel was located on a main highway into town=noise.
Josh and I continued on into the heart of Napier city to see if we spotted anything suitable. We stopped into a few different hotels but they were all too pricey at $130-$150/night. The only other place we seriously considered was $110/night on Marine Parade (a street that overlooked the ocean). However, when we viewed the room, we could hear the neighbors taking a shower and the road noise was obvious. Josh and I decided to return to the Bella Tuscany to book the room.
After waiting at the counter for 15 minutes (the owners clearly didn't hear us ring the bell several times) we were booked into Room 9 (close to the end of the property, off the highway) for $100. The owner showed us the room before we booked it and I really listened and made everyone be quiet so I could here what the road noise would be like in the room. It passed the Janell noise test.
Josh and I settled into the room. Josh was happy to have Sky TV MOVIES! Nothing too memorable was on and I read Hillary Clinton's biography "Living History" after awhile. The only problem was that I couldn't turn my electric blanket on due to lack of plug ins, however, I turned Josh's on for him.
Friday, June 22
The bed and linen was really comfortable and Josh and I slept well until the cell phone alarm went off at 9:00 or so (well, in truth, I could start hearing cars on the highway at 6:30 am or so). I made myself a hot tea and ate a granola bar whilst reading the Dominion newspaper which we had requested to be delivered to the room in the morning (complimentary). Josh continued to sleep in while I tried my hand at making plunger coffee again but failed miserably and the stuff was still gritty.
Into the shower and ready to depart by the standard New Zealand departure time: 10:00 am...ridiculous! The water pressure in this shower was excellent as was the overall hotel room at this place. We can see how it earned it's Qualmark 4 star rating.
Although we were scheduled for a long driving day today, we backtracked a bit to visit Te Mata. We visited the historical hill after purchasing gas. Here's the Maori legend as copied from the Hawkes Bay Tourism site:
According to Maori legend Te Mata hillscape is a sleeping giant, with the hill being the body of Maori Chief, Te Mata O Rongokako. Rongokako, a giant of a man, preyed upon the Heretaunga. The Heretaunga Chief's daughter was very beautiful and after seeing her, he decided to woo rather than make war. She set him many seemingly impossible tasks, which he accomplished until she told him to eat his way through the hill. The giant began to plough his way through the hill but choked on a large rock and dropped to the ground where he still lies today.
http://www.hawkesbaynz.com/sights_and_activities/art_culture_and_heritage/maori_culture_legends/index.htm#temata
The views from the hill were absolutely spectacular...and, it was even a somewhat cloudy day! We could view the ocean and the snow capped volcanos in the distance...incredible. It was a bit windy and cold standing outside, however. Josh and I had a look around and then began our descent stopping at a cheese factory on the way back...but we only got to sample 3 cheeses and they weren't that good (cow, goat, sheep cheese).
Well, rather than returning to Napier the way we came, Josh decided to take us on the scenic "Tuki Tuki Road." That was the literal name of the road and the name of the song that Josh made up about the road! It was too funny to be "wasting" our time on the backroad to Napier. The sun was shining though and we were happy with the sun roof open. We even saw sheep grazing in a vineyard so I had to take a picture of that. I hope to return to the Napier area again as it is not too far from Palmerston North.
When we'd reached Napier again, we came into the city on Marine Parade and saw the hotel where we could have spent the previoius night. We decided to pass on the Aquarium for the time being due to the long drive we had ahead of us. We did, however, stop for lunch.
I had heard about the Thirsty Whale from someone from Napier during a training session at work. The Bella Tuscany hotel owner confirmed that it was a good place to eat with plenty of parking. Josh and I, after getting just a little lost, found the restaurant and went inside to eat.
The Thirsty Whale has a great interior very sailor-ocean-faring-esque. We sat by the window because most of the seats near the fireplace were taken. The waitress took our order: I had a Monteith's Original beer with fish and chips and Josh had a lamb burger. We got a side of potato wedges as a starter.
The wedges were HUGE and came with a good sour cream dipping sauce. When our meals came, they were great too. It had started raining outside but the showers didn't last long. The only downside to the meal were the two young girls who showed up at the opposite table to serenade us with the sound of their forks and knives. Thankfully, we were near the end of our meal!
Seriously, it was time to hit the road. Josh and I started making tracks north to Gisborne...which we had heard someone say was "the end of the world." Well, we never made it as far as Gisborne because we realized we didn't have enough time to reach the East Cape in daylight (eastern most point in NZ) and make it to our booked holiday home in Katikati. So, we looked at the map and decided to cut across the country on a diagonal route called Highway 38.
HIGHWAY 38....DO NOT EVER, EVER, EVER TAKE HIGHWAY 38 UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE!
I should have been warned by the fact that Josh said, "I think that sign said '105 kms unsealed road.'" However, I didn't catch on...when he made that statement, the road was still paved and we were humming along at 100 kph. Then, it happened...gravel road. Okay, surely this won't last long. Besides, there was a guy towing a boat behind his car ahead of us. Surely, he wouldn't take his boat out here if the road was bad.
OH MY GOSH...Highway 38 turned into the world's longest windiest, gravel road ever. Is it in the Guiness Book of World Records?!? Josh and I agreed that this road should NOT be on a tourist map! It was ridiculous. We could maybe go 35 kph on a good stretch.
After having been warned that the weather would be atrocious on the east coast if we decided to travel there, we ended work at 3 today and Josh and I were looking forward to beginning our trip to the East and North Central parts of the North Island. I'd spent some time during the previous two weeks booking us in at what I would hope would be suitable accommodation...except for the first night which would be spent in Napier. I wasn't convinced to stay in a hotel there vs. sleeping in the car for a night...so, I didn't book anything there ahead of time. Our following three nights were booked ahead.
Well, I was starving after work...working a 10-3 schedule without a lunch break (eating only 2 granola bars during that time) added to my hunger. So, it was onto McD's before the trip could begin. Rather than trying to have Josh eat in the car whilst driving, we went inside to eat our food. Then, Josh realized he'd left the hotel confirmation print off at home so we stopped by the house before getting on the road to Napier.
Napier is a 2-2.5 hour drive northeast of Palmerston North. It is known as the Art Deco capital of the world and much of the city was destroyed by an earthquake in 1931. After driving mostly in the dark, we reached the city without a place to stay. Josh called the phone number of Bella Tuscany, a hotel I'd considered before the trip. They had a studio room available for $100/night which was $9 less than had I booked it online. The problem was that the hotel was located on a main highway into town=noise.
Josh and I continued on into the heart of Napier city to see if we spotted anything suitable. We stopped into a few different hotels but they were all too pricey at $130-$150/night. The only other place we seriously considered was $110/night on Marine Parade (a street that overlooked the ocean). However, when we viewed the room, we could hear the neighbors taking a shower and the road noise was obvious. Josh and I decided to return to the Bella Tuscany to book the room.
After waiting at the counter for 15 minutes (the owners clearly didn't hear us ring the bell several times) we were booked into Room 9 (close to the end of the property, off the highway) for $100. The owner showed us the room before we booked it and I really listened and made everyone be quiet so I could here what the road noise would be like in the room. It passed the Janell noise test.
Josh and I settled into the room. Josh was happy to have Sky TV MOVIES! Nothing too memorable was on and I read Hillary Clinton's biography "Living History" after awhile. The only problem was that I couldn't turn my electric blanket on due to lack of plug ins, however, I turned Josh's on for him.
Friday, June 22The bed and linen was really comfortable and Josh and I slept well until the cell phone alarm went off at 9:00 or so (well, in truth, I could start hearing cars on the highway at 6:30 am or so). I made myself a hot tea and ate a granola bar whilst reading the Dominion newspaper which we had requested to be delivered to the room in the morning (complimentary). Josh continued to sleep in while I tried my hand at making plunger coffee again but failed miserably and the stuff was still gritty.
Into the shower and ready to depart by the standard New Zealand departure time: 10:00 am...ridiculous! The water pressure in this shower was excellent as was the overall hotel room at this place. We can see how it earned it's Qualmark 4 star rating.
Although we were scheduled for a long driving day today, we backtracked a bit to visit Te Mata. We visited the historical hill after purchasing gas. Here's the Maori legend as copied from the Hawkes Bay Tourism site:
According to Maori legend Te Mata hillscape is a sleeping giant, with the hill being the body of Maori Chief, Te Mata O Rongokako. Rongokako, a giant of a man, preyed upon the Heretaunga. The Heretaunga Chief's daughter was very beautiful and after seeing her, he decided to woo rather than make war. She set him many seemingly impossible tasks, which he accomplished until she told him to eat his way through the hill. The giant began to plough his way through the hill but choked on a large rock and dropped to the ground where he still lies today.
http://www.hawkesbaynz.com/sights_and_activities/art_culture_and_heritage/maori_culture_legends/index.htm#temata
The views from the hill were absolutely spectacular...and, it was even a somewhat cloudy day! We could view the ocean and the snow capped volcanos in the distance...incredible. It was a bit windy and cold standing outside, however. Josh and I had a look around and then began our descent stopping at a cheese factory on the way back...but we only got to sample 3 cheeses and they weren't that good (cow, goat, sheep cheese).
Well, rather than returning to Napier the way we came, Josh decided to take us on the scenic "Tuki Tuki Road." That was the literal name of the road and the name of the song that Josh made up about the road! It was too funny to be "wasting" our time on the backroad to Napier. The sun was shining though and we were happy with the sun roof open. We even saw sheep grazing in a vineyard so I had to take a picture of that. I hope to return to the Napier area again as it is not too far from Palmerston North.
When we'd reached Napier again, we came into the city on Marine Parade and saw the hotel where we could have spent the previoius night. We decided to pass on the Aquarium for the time being due to the long drive we had ahead of us. We did, however, stop for lunch.
I had heard about the Thirsty Whale from someone from Napier during a training session at work. The Bella Tuscany hotel owner confirmed that it was a good place to eat with plenty of parking. Josh and I, after getting just a little lost, found the restaurant and went inside to eat.
The Thirsty Whale has a great interior very sailor-ocean-faring-esque. We sat by the window because most of the seats near the fireplace were taken. The waitress took our order: I had a Monteith's Original beer with fish and chips and Josh had a lamb burger. We got a side of potato wedges as a starter.
The wedges were HUGE and came with a good sour cream dipping sauce. When our meals came, they were great too. It had started raining outside but the showers didn't last long. The only downside to the meal were the two young girls who showed up at the opposite table to serenade us with the sound of their forks and knives. Thankfully, we were near the end of our meal!
Seriously, it was time to hit the road. Josh and I started making tracks north to Gisborne...which we had heard someone say was "the end of the world." Well, we never made it as far as Gisborne because we realized we didn't have enough time to reach the East Cape in daylight (eastern most point in NZ) and make it to our booked holiday home in Katikati. So, we looked at the map and decided to cut across the country on a diagonal route called Highway 38.
HIGHWAY 38....DO NOT EVER, EVER, EVER TAKE HIGHWAY 38 UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE!
I should have been warned by the fact that Josh said, "I think that sign said '105 kms unsealed road.'" However, I didn't catch on...when he made that statement, the road was still paved and we were humming along at 100 kph. Then, it happened...gravel road. Okay, surely this won't last long. Besides, there was a guy towing a boat behind his car ahead of us. Surely, he wouldn't take his boat out here if the road was bad.
OH MY GOSH...Highway 38 turned into the world's longest windiest, gravel road ever. Is it in the Guiness Book of World Records?!? Josh and I agreed that this road should NOT be on a tourist map! It was ridiculous. We could maybe go 35 kph on a good stretch.
We were rewarded with some cool views of Lake Waikaremoana as the sun peeked out from the clouds and there was an amazingly huge waterfall. These two natural wonders could not detract from our never-ending drive and the fact that the drive became more and more surreal the further we traveled. I'm not making this up: there were wild horses, cows and calves, and pigs randomly located throughout Highway 38. 
I dubbed Highway 38 the Tongariro Crossing of drives. This means even though I wanted to be off of the road and be done with it, there was still so much land to cover and there was nothing I could do about it except get it done. Not to mention there was no radio or anything to divert our attention...besides the random livestock!
I dubbed Highway 38 the Tongariro Crossing of drives. This means even though I wanted to be off of the road and be done with it, there was still so much land to cover and there was nothing I could do about it except get it done. Not to mention there was no radio or anything to divert our attention...besides the random livestock!It took us HOURS to cover the 105 km road...maybe 3-4 hours of traveling on the worst road ever. And, we still had a way to go to reach Katikati. We stopped in for gas in Rotorua and then drove another 45 minutes to Tauranga for groceries. We made a solid plan of what we'd purchase before we entered the grocery store: drinks and items for burritos.
In Tauranga, we made our fastest grocery shopping trip ever as we were highly motivated to reach our home in Katikati. Departing Tauranga, we spotted a Wendy's fast food spot from home. A frosty sounded good but we wanted to get off the road by this point.
Exiting Tauranga was cool because they had an overpass and a motorway...funny how we miss this kind of infrastructure that's common in the USA. Katikati was another 30 minute drive. We found the side road we were supposed to travel on to reach the home. We drove past the home once before locating it.
The home, named Red Barn, was a decent place to stay for $100 NZD a night. The kitchen could have been cleaner for me. But, it had a log burner and lots of fire wood. Josh tried making a fire and making dinner while I made the bed upstairs. Ultimately, Josh had to focus on the burritos so I made the fire myself...VICTORIOUS!!! I love a fire...especially making one myself...SWEET!
Dinner was good and we popped Casino Royale into the DVD player (the house included a couple of DVDs to watch). We really like this version of James Bond. We hung out before the fire died and we went upstairs to sleep...fortunately, there was an oil heater to suppliment the heat from the fire upstairs.
Saturday, June 23
I woke up as the sun came up (the entire house lacked curtins but it was in the middle of the jungle....The song I kept singing in this house was "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns and Roses because of its remote location) and I looked out the glass balcony door to the ocean in the distance. It was a really nice view but I wasn't ready to get up so I went back to bed until 9:00 or so. I left Josh to sleep in a bit more while I went downstairs to wash the dishes from the night before.
We had bought some eggs at the grocery store yesterday so I started getting those ready for breakfast. Scrambled egg goodness. Josh woke up and we ate before departing for the day.
There were so many rainbows as we drove across the countryside. We had a plan to drive in a loop around the Coromandel Pennisula...however, we soon realized that, oh yeah, we're in New Zealand and the roads are not like in the states so we would not get anywhere as fast as we expected! The roads up to Hahei where the Hot Water Beach is located was so twisty turny that it reminded Josh of Highway 38...which was not a good thing! There were lots of nice views and pull offs on the drive, however, it was too soon to be on a winding road after have been on Highway 38.
http://www.thecoromandel.com/map.html
I had wanted to visit the Hot Water Beach because you dig your own thermal pool to sit in on the beach. That sounded neat to me. When we reached the Hot Water Beach, however, we realized there was a small detail in my trip planning that I had overlooked: THE TIDE!
Apparently, the only time the hot water area of the beach is accessable is 2 hours prior to and during low tide. It was currently 2 in the afternoon and low tide was at 7 pm. The earliest we could access the hot water part of the beach would be 5 pm and the sun set at 5:30. This wasn't going to happen :( Bummer.
Well, we were at the beach, so we wanted to make the most of it. I had a coffee and Josh had an ice cream from the beach cafe. We sat on the picnic table enjoying the view. Then, we took a walk along the beach. We climbed through some rock formation and picked up a few shells. Not the same as building my own thermal pool but maybe next time?
As we were about to drive out of the car park and make our way back to the holiday home (giving up on the idea of circling the pennisula due to time) Jessica called our cell phone. Jess is the American Rotary Scholar living with her husband in Wellington. They had considered joining us on this weekend trip but Ike, her husband, had to travel to Auckland for his job at the last minute. They thought they could possibly meet up with us Sunday in Lake Taupo since we used our credit card points to book a two bedroom apartment but that's why Jess was calling...they wouldn't be able to make it up there.
On our own, we made a quick side trip to view another beach which was very beautiful with all these little islands off in the distance. Then, the return journey. More rainbows...but I'm starting to think rainbows mean bad luck?!?! We made it back to the house and Josh started reheating us leftover burritos while I took a shower in the outdoor shower. WOW! That shower rocked...great water pressure, HOT water and although it was located underneath the upstairs balcony, I could still see the stars in the sky and the palm fronds blowing in the wind.
We put in the Garfield movie while we ate. After dinner, I was successful in starting another fire. Josh and I will have to have a fireplace back in the states. I love having a fire so much! We found an unopened box of New Zealand Monopoly so we cracked it open and set it up on the floor by the fire. Josh totally dominated and I went bankrupt 45 minutes into our 1 hour time limit! I had bad luck and Josh had hotels on most of his properties!
We read our books before going to sleep. I was worried about the fire dying out so I extinguished the burning embers with water just to be on the safe side.
Sunday, June 24
Since we'd eaten our eggs for breakfast yesterday, that meant we had granola bars and cookies for breakfast today. I do love Mellowpuffs though! We tidied up the house and washed the dishes before leaving. I took one of the old fashion magazines stacked up in the house. Magazines are too pricey to buy here and I didn't think it would be missed by anyone.
We made our way south back through Tauranga. We took a side trip to view Mount Monganui. I love the entrance into Mount Monganui. The street is lined with palm trees and cafes. As it was a Sunday, all of the outdoor cafe seats were full. It created a really nice environment with the huge hill, Mount Monganui in the background.
Mount Monganui turned out to be a pleasant surprise. While we didn't climb the hill, we did take a walk along the beach and out onto a large rock crop of an island. It was a great place with excellent views and I can definitely imagine returning in the summer if we can catch a good flight deal on Air New Zealand.
Leaving Mount Monganui, that's when things went downhill again. We could NOT find our way out of Tauranga to Highway 36 - the road to Rotorua. We drove every wrong way trying to find it and Josh didn't ask for directions. Frustrating! Finally, we found the right road and were headed south to Rotorua and then onto Taupo.
Josh and I stopped in for gas in Rotorua but held off on getting food. As we approached Taupo, we side tracked to view Huka Falls again. The site was less crowded as it is now winter. The water level of the falls was also much lower than the last time we were here. Next, it was onto the Clarion Collection Sacred Waters...the place we'd been upgraded to the penthouse in February.
Okay, so I tried to tell myself not to expect the same room again and blah, blah. Still, when we checked in and the guy was like, "yeah, you're in the cheapest room tonight" I couldn't help but be bummed out. The room was still a 2 bedroom apartment with it's own outdoor hot water plunge pool, it just wasn't AS NICE as the penthouse. If we'd not stayed in the penthouse previously, this room would have seemed totally great but I knew what the best was like!
This room faced the highway, the interior door was located by the noisy reception area, and it had no real lake view. Josh and I were feeling hungry by this point so he called in an order for some Thai take away and went to pick it up. The food was super great chicken curry and rice. We ran a hot water plunge pool and could here the constant road noise while we were outside. I told myself I will do what it takes to be able to pay for the life experiences I want to have...i.e. the penthouse life.
I read my magazine before falling asleep and having a nightmare. I woke up with Josh in bed next to me and the road noise seeming really loud. I got up to see why it was so noisy and realized that Josh had come to bed without shutting the sliding glass patio doors! Closed the doors and went back to sleep until the morning.
Monday, June 25
Because we'd gone to bed kinda early the night before, Josh was up around 6 or so. I typically need more sleep than Josh so I stayed in bed til 9. Josh had made himself some breakfast with the continental breakfast items provided. When I woke up and starting making my toast, cereal, fruit breakfast Josh was happily watching The View having quite a few laughs. Check out was at 10 so we packed up and got out of the hotel.
We headed south taking in the views of Lake Taupo and more rainbows. We then reached the volcanic center with all the snow capped volcanos. It was very cloudy but we could still make out how snowy it was getting there. When we take Josh's parents here to visit we hope we have a clear day.
On a high note, I was able to snap a picture of the toliet sign I mentioned in my February post! When Josh and I reached Palmerston North, we went to buy some groceries and then made it back to the house.
Josh and I said this was the worst trip we've been on where nothing major went wrong. I guess that there has to be a "worst" trip in a lifetime of travel. At least this trip wasn't too expensive (although gas was pretty pricey!) and it was in New Zealand not somewhere that had a language barrier. I think I underestimated the roads and driving conditions and the DREADED HIGHWAY 38 really sucked the life out of the trip!
Onto other, hopefully better, adventures like Josh's parents visit in August!
In Tauranga, we made our fastest grocery shopping trip ever as we were highly motivated to reach our home in Katikati. Departing Tauranga, we spotted a Wendy's fast food spot from home. A frosty sounded good but we wanted to get off the road by this point.
Exiting Tauranga was cool because they had an overpass and a motorway...funny how we miss this kind of infrastructure that's common in the USA. Katikati was another 30 minute drive. We found the side road we were supposed to travel on to reach the home. We drove past the home once before locating it.
The home, named Red Barn, was a decent place to stay for $100 NZD a night. The kitchen could have been cleaner for me. But, it had a log burner and lots of fire wood. Josh tried making a fire and making dinner while I made the bed upstairs. Ultimately, Josh had to focus on the burritos so I made the fire myself...VICTORIOUS!!! I love a fire...especially making one myself...SWEET!
Dinner was good and we popped Casino Royale into the DVD player (the house included a couple of DVDs to watch). We really like this version of James Bond. We hung out before the fire died and we went upstairs to sleep...fortunately, there was an oil heater to suppliment the heat from the fire upstairs.
Saturday, June 23
I woke up as the sun came up (the entire house lacked curtins but it was in the middle of the jungle....The song I kept singing in this house was "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns and Roses because of its remote location) and I looked out the glass balcony door to the ocean in the distance. It was a really nice view but I wasn't ready to get up so I went back to bed until 9:00 or so. I left Josh to sleep in a bit more while I went downstairs to wash the dishes from the night before.
We had bought some eggs at the grocery store yesterday so I started getting those ready for breakfast. Scrambled egg goodness. Josh woke up and we ate before departing for the day.
There were so many rainbows as we drove across the countryside. We had a plan to drive in a loop around the Coromandel Pennisula...however, we soon realized that, oh yeah, we're in New Zealand and the roads are not like in the states so we would not get anywhere as fast as we expected! The roads up to Hahei where the Hot Water Beach is located was so twisty turny that it reminded Josh of Highway 38...which was not a good thing! There were lots of nice views and pull offs on the drive, however, it was too soon to be on a winding road after have been on Highway 38.
http://www.thecoromandel.com/map.html
I had wanted to visit the Hot Water Beach because you dig your own thermal pool to sit in on the beach. That sounded neat to me. When we reached the Hot Water Beach, however, we realized there was a small detail in my trip planning that I had overlooked: THE TIDE!
Apparently, the only time the hot water area of the beach is accessable is 2 hours prior to and during low tide. It was currently 2 in the afternoon and low tide was at 7 pm. The earliest we could access the hot water part of the beach would be 5 pm and the sun set at 5:30. This wasn't going to happen :( Bummer.
Well, we were at the beach, so we wanted to make the most of it. I had a coffee and Josh had an ice cream from the beach cafe. We sat on the picnic table enjoying the view. Then, we took a walk along the beach. We climbed through some rock formation and picked up a few shells. Not the same as building my own thermal pool but maybe next time?
As we were about to drive out of the car park and make our way back to the holiday home (giving up on the idea of circling the pennisula due to time) Jessica called our cell phone. Jess is the American Rotary Scholar living with her husband in Wellington. They had considered joining us on this weekend trip but Ike, her husband, had to travel to Auckland for his job at the last minute. They thought they could possibly meet up with us Sunday in Lake Taupo since we used our credit card points to book a two bedroom apartment but that's why Jess was calling...they wouldn't be able to make it up there.
On our own, we made a quick side trip to view another beach which was very beautiful with all these little islands off in the distance. Then, the return journey. More rainbows...but I'm starting to think rainbows mean bad luck?!?! We made it back to the house and Josh started reheating us leftover burritos while I took a shower in the outdoor shower. WOW! That shower rocked...great water pressure, HOT water and although it was located underneath the upstairs balcony, I could still see the stars in the sky and the palm fronds blowing in the wind.
We put in the Garfield movie while we ate. After dinner, I was successful in starting another fire. Josh and I will have to have a fireplace back in the states. I love having a fire so much! We found an unopened box of New Zealand Monopoly so we cracked it open and set it up on the floor by the fire. Josh totally dominated and I went bankrupt 45 minutes into our 1 hour time limit! I had bad luck and Josh had hotels on most of his properties!
We read our books before going to sleep. I was worried about the fire dying out so I extinguished the burning embers with water just to be on the safe side.
Sunday, June 24
Since we'd eaten our eggs for breakfast yesterday, that meant we had granola bars and cookies for breakfast today. I do love Mellowpuffs though! We tidied up the house and washed the dishes before leaving. I took one of the old fashion magazines stacked up in the house. Magazines are too pricey to buy here and I didn't think it would be missed by anyone.
We made our way south back through Tauranga. We took a side trip to view Mount Monganui. I love the entrance into Mount Monganui. The street is lined with palm trees and cafes. As it was a Sunday, all of the outdoor cafe seats were full. It created a really nice environment with the huge hill, Mount Monganui in the background.
Mount Monganui turned out to be a pleasant surprise. While we didn't climb the hill, we did take a walk along the beach and out onto a large rock crop of an island. It was a great place with excellent views and I can definitely imagine returning in the summer if we can catch a good flight deal on Air New Zealand.
Leaving Mount Monganui, that's when things went downhill again. We could NOT find our way out of Tauranga to Highway 36 - the road to Rotorua. We drove every wrong way trying to find it and Josh didn't ask for directions. Frustrating! Finally, we found the right road and were headed south to Rotorua and then onto Taupo.
Josh and I stopped in for gas in Rotorua but held off on getting food. As we approached Taupo, we side tracked to view Huka Falls again. The site was less crowded as it is now winter. The water level of the falls was also much lower than the last time we were here. Next, it was onto the Clarion Collection Sacred Waters...the place we'd been upgraded to the penthouse in February.
Okay, so I tried to tell myself not to expect the same room again and blah, blah. Still, when we checked in and the guy was like, "yeah, you're in the cheapest room tonight" I couldn't help but be bummed out. The room was still a 2 bedroom apartment with it's own outdoor hot water plunge pool, it just wasn't AS NICE as the penthouse. If we'd not stayed in the penthouse previously, this room would have seemed totally great but I knew what the best was like!
This room faced the highway, the interior door was located by the noisy reception area, and it had no real lake view. Josh and I were feeling hungry by this point so he called in an order for some Thai take away and went to pick it up. The food was super great chicken curry and rice. We ran a hot water plunge pool and could here the constant road noise while we were outside. I told myself I will do what it takes to be able to pay for the life experiences I want to have...i.e. the penthouse life.
I read my magazine before falling asleep and having a nightmare. I woke up with Josh in bed next to me and the road noise seeming really loud. I got up to see why it was so noisy and realized that Josh had come to bed without shutting the sliding glass patio doors! Closed the doors and went back to sleep until the morning.
Monday, June 25
Because we'd gone to bed kinda early the night before, Josh was up around 6 or so. I typically need more sleep than Josh so I stayed in bed til 9. Josh had made himself some breakfast with the continental breakfast items provided. When I woke up and starting making my toast, cereal, fruit breakfast Josh was happily watching The View having quite a few laughs. Check out was at 10 so we packed up and got out of the hotel.
We headed south taking in the views of Lake Taupo and more rainbows. We then reached the volcanic center with all the snow capped volcanos. It was very cloudy but we could still make out how snowy it was getting there. When we take Josh's parents here to visit we hope we have a clear day.
On a high note, I was able to snap a picture of the toliet sign I mentioned in my February post! When Josh and I reached Palmerston North, we went to buy some groceries and then made it back to the house.
Josh and I said this was the worst trip we've been on where nothing major went wrong. I guess that there has to be a "worst" trip in a lifetime of travel. At least this trip wasn't too expensive (although gas was pretty pricey!) and it was in New Zealand not somewhere that had a language barrier. I think I underestimated the roads and driving conditions and the DREADED HIGHWAY 38 really sucked the life out of the trip!
Onto other, hopefully better, adventures like Josh's parents visit in August!
No comments:
Post a Comment