Napier

Got up about 8:00, breakfast, showered, packed my car. When I looked out the window this morning, I didn't see what I liked, which is why I decided to leave today (I kind of planned to stay one more day). It's cloudy, rainy, foggy, drizzly and cool day.

Checked out and drove out to Aratiatia rapids to see the dam open up at 10:00 and flood the river bed/rapids. Kinda neat.

Then drove to Craters of the Moon, free (run by the DOC) geothermal area, filled with craters, fumaroles, hissing steam vents and the like. Cool!! Spent about 45 minutes here, but couldn't see the steam for the fog!!

Then to Huka Falls. WOW! I had seen Huka Falls from below the falls (when I took the HukaJet), but not from above. The Waikoto River is forced through a canyon a fraction of the size of the river. The result: an incredible tour de force, a torrent of rushing white water along a long gorge, before emptying over a waterfall into a great pool. Apparently the falls eject enough water to fill two olympic size swimming pools every second.

About noon, drove on SH5, headed for Napier. 5km out of Taupo, blue skies. Figures. Looking back, I could see the low cloud layer hovering over the Taupo area. The first 40 km of the drive is really boring, flat, clear-cut loggin, and cattle and sheep grazing. Then entered into a very cooll mountain range, with some peaks to the south covered in snow. Stopped at a lookout for a cool waterfall.

Got to Napier about 2:30 or 3:00, blue skies, sunshine. Napier is the art-deco city of NZ, with the buildings looking like artwork in an art museum. It also has a Mediterranean-type climate, witnessed by the green grass and blooming flower gardens and green, green grass.

Checked into Archie's Bunker (Let's Go recommended), he gave me a twin room instead of dorm for the dorm price, because it's so slow right now. The hostel is almost empty.

Walked around town, the beach is not very nice, it's black stones and pebbles. The ocean looked like quite a great spot for surfing, though. The town itself is very clean and nice, very pedestrian friendly.

After walking around, drove to Countdown and bought some chicken and made chicken tortilla's for supper. Yum!!!

Watched TV and chatted with a Kiwi chick staying at the hostel, and did some laundry. To bed about 10:30.