Author: Rudy

We woke up after a very good night’s sleep. Since our B&B didn’t seem to include the second ‘B’, we quickly packed up and drove into town to look for breakfast. We found a string of busy cafes and restaurants, picked one, ordered eggs, toast, and coffee and enjoyed a leisurely morning.

After breakfast we went to a gas station and filled up the car. Then to the next door grocery store to stock up on some things we would need now that we’re “settling down” for a few weeks. And then back on the road, back to our new apartment in Napier.

When we arrived the Dickeys were not there. But we’d had an email from them earlier in the morning — telling us where the key was and to just ‘move in’ and make ourselves at home. And that’s what we did.

I parked the car and started to unload. The apartment had had a serious makeover since the last time we saw it. All spic and span. Nice furniture on the front patio, new bedding, new coffee press, everything we might need. So we did what we do best: we clean up and get organized. Sue and I were both VERY happy about what we’ve found here.

After everything was in its place Sue made a light snack for us and we sat down for a little happy hour. I was just finished selecting and sorting photos from yesterday’s trek in Tangariro when Graeme came by. He’d just come back from a 50km bike ride, the return trip against a significant wind. But he seemed happy to see us and sat down for a visit. Not long after his wife Robyn appeared — she’d just come back from an all-day golf tournament where she’d lost on the 4th ‘overtime’ hole. She too wanted to hear all about our hike. And both of them wanted to know if there was anything the apartment would need. Well, what about the TV? In their morning email they’d said that they would need to replace the TV, and after checking it out, I’d come to the same conclusion. In fact, I was hoping they’d replace it since it didn’t have an HDMI jack to hook up my AppleTV to. But no, Graeme actually got it going and it looks okay. No, we won’t be watching Netflix on it, but it does get quite a few channels, possibly even the NFL games. And we can watch CBC and Netflix on my computer. 

After the Dickeys left Sue made supper: she’d bought a roasted chicken and some nice fresh bread. We each had a corn on the cob to go with that. Great.

After supper we watched the CBC National News on my computer. As good as everything seems to have been going for us, things in America don’t look to be doing the same. Today was Donald Trump’s inauguration. Yikes! I wonder how long that presidency will last. I predict it will be over by this time next year. I just hope he hasn’t wrecked the world, never mind the United States when all is said and done.

By 10:30 it was ‘lights out’. 

What a day! Sue and I both had restless nights, probably in part because we were worried about missing the alarm in the morning. But at 5:20 Sue’s alarm woke us. And by 6am we’d packed up and were in the car, heading out of Taradale, back to Taupo.

It was early Friday morning, but traffic was light. We were going to stop for a coffee early on but decided we could wait 2 hours and get our coffee in Taupo. So the winding, hilly drive to Taupo was going just fine. Then, at around 6:50, traffic came to a standstill. We were stuck. What was the problem? Well, after half an hour or more of sitting there waiting, a couple of truck drivers who had walked on ahead were returning with news: There’s been a crash up ahead. Traffic is now backed up because a big semi-trail ‘jack-knifed’ and they need to clean that up. It’ll be another 20 minutes for sure. Whoa! there goes all the good time I’d made so far! And then, once we started moving again, and we DID pass the dented up semi trailers, it was slow-going. Not only were there a couple of miles of trucks lined up in the oncoming lane, waiting for their turn to pass the accident scene, but we were now behind a number of big logging ‘double-trailer’ rigs chugging their slow way up and around the mountain curves. And so once again, I was driving like an Indy car racer, waiting for each chance to pass one more truck, watching the oncoming lane for traffic. The delay had set us back an hour, and although I made back a bit of time once I’d passed everyone and was speeding into Taupo, we had to text Brian and Val and let them know we’d be at least 15 minutes late for our 9 o’clock rendezvous at the car park. 

We made a very quick pit stop in Taupo, got a coffee and muffin and bathroom break, and then continued the final 45 minutes to the car park at the end of the hike route. The Funks were there, waiting. They put a couple of their humungous suitcases into our parked car, and the five of us drove in their rented jeep, another half an hour to the car park at the beginning of the hike. 

After parking the car and putting on SOME of the gear we’d packed into our backpacks, we set off on the hike. The total track length is 19.4 km one way. There are shuttle buses available to take hikers back from the finish to the car park where they started, but we hadn’t booked a shuttle, and we wouldn’t need one. Brian had volunteered to walk with us for the first hour or two, then turn around and drive the jeep back to where we’d parked our car at the the end point. 

The crossing is a trek over steep volcanic terrain. This is not a casual stroll in the park. The suggested time for the walk is 5.5 to 8 hours. We would do it in just over 6. The forecast was for cloudy skies, a few showers, possible hail in the afternoon. We were warned to be prepared for any and all types of weather conditions. We were lucky to have the kind of day that we had — the weather for the day before and for the days following our hike looked HORRIBLE! It was cool and drizzling lightly as we set off. It didn’t take long for us to warm up and take off a layer. 

The first hour or so the track climbs a gentle gradient alongside a stream and around the edges of old lava flows, until it reaches Soda Springs at the top of the Mangatepopo Valley. Along the way we met one old character who was dressed a bit like Gandalf (from the Lord of the Rings tales). At Soda Springs Brian said goodbye. He took a break, met a few more interesting trekkers, and then turned back to the car park.

We continued our climb, gaining another 340m. Quite a good portion of the walk was on steps that had been built to make the climb safer and easier. But what a lot of steps we climbed! After a fairly steep section, we crossed over two lava flows from eruptions in 1870 and 1975 — and because of the rain, we had to navigate around the path which had become a series of shallow red muddy puddles. After about 2 hours of trekking we arrived at the South Crater.

It took nearly another hour to climb from the top of the South Crater to Red Crater (1886m), the highest point on the Tongariro Crossing. As we walked up the ridge we could smell sulphur — this crater is still active. The red colour is from the oxidation of iron in the lava rock. Up here there was quite a bit of snow on the ground, and the cold wind was howling. We were glad to have our rain jackets and hoods on for this part of the hike. (And this was a GOOD day!) The mix of snow, sand, mud, and wet rocks made parts of the trek quite slippery and tricky. In fact, there were chains and cables for climbers to pull themselves up for the steepest part of this section.

The weather was quite cold and the wind was biting cold. But the views were spectacular! And if the mist and clouds obscured the scenery, you only had to keep climbing for another minute or two, and when you looked up, the mist was gone and everything was visible again.

Now the steepest uphill climbs were behind us. But that didn’t mean that what was left was easy! No, descending on some of the steep, slippery downhills was just as hard as climbing had been.

It took us about 20 minutes to come down from Red Crater to the Emerald Lakes. The steep descent on loose scree terrain was especially tough for Sue, and I had to hold her arm and keep reassuring her that we would NOT slide all the way down into the beautiful (but steaming and stinking of sulphur) green lakes below us.

And then we were on the ‘home stretch’! Still 2.5 to 3.5 hours to go, but now the walk was mostly a gentle downhill, with a few climbs just to keep your blood pumping. There was a well-maintained path leading us through forest and twisting back and forth alongside the mountain. About halfway down this section there was the first ‘official’ washroom since the Soda Springs stop — and there were about a hundred trekkers lined up for it! We hurried on by. 

The final hour and a half seemed to take forever. We were tired. Sue’s one knee was making climbing down steps difficult. The terrain (and the weather) had changed considerably. Now we were walking through a lush green forest. We could hear the mountain streams rushing down somewhere beside us, and the afternoon sun shone through the leaves above us. And the trail kept twisting and turning. We could see the long narrow road that led from the highway to the car park LONG before we reached it. For the final 15 minutes of the walk it seemed that Sue and I had lost our way — Scott and Val were way ahead of us, and now there we say hardly any hikers. And we should be there already! Maybe around the next bend. Nope. Maybe just over the next little climb and then down the steps. No. 

We finally emerged at the car park. Brian was there, offering us a celebratory drink from the jugs of craft beer and cider he’d bought for the occasion. It was good to get our shoes off. Sue and a small blister on one of her toes, but mostly we were in good shape. 

We got into our car and drove back up to Taupo, about 45 minutes away. We’d booked a B&B there as had the Funks. After checking in and showering and changing Sue and I took a short walk up to the Funks B&B where we had a little ‘happy hour’. Then we called a shuttle van to take the five of us into town to a restaurant.

We enjoyed a final supper together with the Funks at Dixie’s Restaurant on the main waterfront in Taupo. We’ve had a very good time traveling with the Funks on and off for the last couple of weeks. They will now head north, all the way up to the 90 Mile Beach at the northern tip of New Zealand, before coming back down to Cambridge where they will drop Scott off at the Capernwray Bible School. Brian and Val are flying home at the end of January. We will still have another two months to enjoy New Zealand.

We said goodnight and goodbye when the taxi dropped us off at our respective B&Bs. Although our place was NOT one of our better bookings, we slept VERY well this night. We’d earned the rest!

Not much happened here today. Sue booked our place in Taupo for tomorrow night and let  Graeme and Robyn know we wouldn’t be coming on Friday — we’ll do the hike, stay in Taupo, then checkin to our apartment in Napier on Saturday. We didn’t go for a long walk either (and not ONLY because my mother thinks it is making Sue look old and tired!) Instead I worked on the computer, Sue read. We went into Napier around 1pm and ate at McDonalds. Then we saw two beautiful Hollywood movie stars waste their time (and ours) in a poor script called “Passengers”. After the movie we picked up sandwich fixings and went back to our place. Sue made sandwiches for the hike tomorrow, and we had a “practice session” with sandwiches for supper — outside at the little table and chairs next to the driveway! Some serious packing and repacking for tomorrow’s hike — will it rain? hail? Are we taking too much along? Too little? We’ll find out soon. Then Sue tried to go to sleep while I worked on the computer until after 11:00. Finally, lights out.

We slept in until about 8 o’clock and didn’t come out of our room for breakfast until around 9:30! After breakfast we went for a stroll around the neighbourhood. The stroll turned into a pretty serious walk — around the park behind our B&B, then up along the main street right up to the main intersection, and then back to our place — all-in-all about 5kms. Then, after doing a bit of computing, we drove back into Taradale town centre and walked through the downtown. Not a lot of choices as far as places to eat. And the stores that had some of their wares out on the sidewalk — well, it all looked a little ‘junky’. We had a sandwich (a muffin and cappuccino for Sue) at one of the cafes and then headed back home.

Sue read and did her exercises while I worked on a web project. I was looking through one of the brochures for ‘What to do’ in this area when I came upon a listing for a concert at one of the local wineries — James Taylor will be performing outdoors on the grounds of the Old Church Winery on Sunday, Feb 5! Well! Are there tickets? Yep, some general admission tickets are still available. We should go down there and check it out. It’s only about a kilometre from here.

So at around 3pm that’s what we did. The ladies in the lovely winery restaurant couldn’t really help us — but they DID show us the big green field where the concert would take place, and although they couldn’t sell us the tickets (we’d have to do that online), one of them took a photo of Sue and me hanging out with JT!

We left the winery and headed down to the Napier Golf Course. After 3pm the rate is $15 for 9 nine holes. We each bought an 18-hole round. And we had a lovely time. The course was in quite good shape (although it’s been very dry here for quite some time, the fairways were mostly lush and green). No waiting for us — and no pressure coming up behind us either. Really, we had NO excuse not to golf better than we did! But we had a lot of fun. By the last few holes I was really dragging myself around the course — what with the big long walk in the morning and the walks and golf yesterday — and my feet were aching.

We drove back into town and stopped at a ‘fish ‘n chip’ shop. We took the food home to our place and ate it outside in the backyard.

Our lady had left for the evening. Her dog was whining in the living room. Sue was texting with Val Funk — making arrangements for the Tongariro Hike — a 19.5km hike across some volcanic mountains that we’ve talked about doing. The Funks want to do it on Friday and invited us to join them. It means that we need to book a B&B in Taupo for Friday night (which Sue did) and delay our move into Graeme and Robin’s apartment until Saturday. In the meantime, I booked us tickets to the James Taylor concert on Feb 5. So that means we’re hanging around Napier until at least then — a total of 3 weeks. But really, everytime Sue looks at the weather anywhere around us — even Wellington, which is only about 4 hours south — it is cold and rainy, while we have sunshine and wind!

Since our B&B is getting new guests tonight, we have to move out for a few days. We’ve booked another AirBnB in Taradale, about 15 minutes south of where we are in Napier.

We slept in a bit and had to hurry to get out of the apartment by 10:30. Robin popped in just as we were having breakfast so we had a chance to say goodbye. We’re pretty sure we’ll be back here on Friday, in our own apartment.

We drove to the Napier city centre and stopped at the Information booth. Picked up some brochures and maps so we know where the golf courses and the movie theatres are. We took a walk into town and found the movie theatre. We decided to hang around — have lunch in town, pick up a few groceries, and then see the 12:45 showing of “La La Land”. The downtown movie theatre is showing all their  movies for the discount price of $10, so that’s a good deal for us. They have 4 screens and quite a good list of current movies which we haven’t seen and would interest us.

We hadn’t seen a movie for quite a long time, and it was fun. Big comfy seats, so the 150 minute film didn’t even seem all that long. Sue really liked it; I thought it was okay. A good way to stay out of the hot midday sun. 

After the movie we drove down to our ‘new’ B&B. Hmmm… A yappy barking dog. The lady of the house also does facial massages and ‘spa’ treatments. Our bathroom had a jar of perfume with scented incense sticks on the window sill (which I immediately removed and put out into the hallway). But the room is clean, the bed is good, and so is the ensuite bathroom. I think we’ll manage for 3 nights.

After settling in and unpacking, we got back into the car and went looking for nearby golf courses. The nearest one looked quite good. It was after 4 o’clock and we were hoping for a twilight rate, but it so happened that today they were all booked up with a local tournament. How about tomorrow? Yes, anytime after 3pm is ‘twilight’ and you can golf 18 holes for $15. Wow! that’s great! 

So we drove to the next course. Actually 2 courses, a 9-hole municipal course and a very nice 18-hole one next to it. We opted for the 9-hole — $10 each, and it looked like we’d not have to wait for anyone ahead of us. In fact, the old-timers that were coming off the course were enjoying their beers on the parking lot!

The course wasn’t all that good, but we had a good time. Sue played quite well and ended up beating me by one shot.

We looked at the neighbouring course but it was all closed by the time we finished our round. Next time. We drove back towards our B&B but decided to first drive into the town centre and scout out a place for dinner tonight. We ended up at a restaurant called ‘Dukes’, not far from our place. Sat outside and shared a big combo plate. Pretty good. 

Then we drove back to our B&B. Sue read in the living room while I computed for a while. By 10pm we were in bed.

We slept in a bit this morning. When we got downstairs we were alone — Graeme and Robin were both gone for the day. Sue made breakfast. I sent Brian a text — offered that he could join me at 10:30 to watch the Packers – Cowboys game on our TV.

At around 11 the Funks showed up. Sue and Val went to the grocery store a block away to buy sandwiches for lunch. The boys sat in the house and watched football. The game started poorly for Dallas but they fought back and tied the game, only to lose it on a last second field goal. The girls left to go for a long walk into the city centre after lunch. Graeme came to join us for lunch before going back to work at his son’s custom boat building shop. Robin was babysitting 2 of her grandchildren.

After the game we sat around a bit. I suggested we go for a short walk before the girls returned from theirs. We walked around the waterfront, looked at some of the restaurants. When we got back to the house Robin was back, and the girls were still not back. When they returned we sat at the table for a while.

The Funks were discussing options for themselves — they have 2 weeks left and still want to see the south island and the area north of Auckland. I was a little uptight about our own plans: if we didn’t find an apartment around here today, we’d better have a plan — and find something down the road for the next part of our trip. 

When the Funks left to go back to their B&B, Sue and I got ready to go into town to see what we could find. At the last minute we asked Robin, our host, whether we might stay in the ‘attached’ studio apartment behind their house. The current renter has lived there for the past 6 years, but is moving out this Thursday. Robin gave us a quick tour of the apartment — quite messy, but the guy is in the middle of ‘cleaning up’ and moving out — and it looked like it would suit us perfectly. When we asked about a weekly rate Robin’s price was VERY attractive. But the room we’re in now has been booked by other guests for Tuesday to Thursday, and so we need to make alternate arrangements for the until Friday. Should we go into town? Sue suggested we sit down and check online. And we found something and booked it. And then we texted Funks, asked them to pick us up at 7 and we’d all go for supper at a downtown pub.

We had happy hour with our hosts until the Funks showed up just before 7. We all piled into the CRV and rode into town. The Funks had also had a ‘family meeting’ and reported that they were no longer intending to go to the south island. They will go down to Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand located at the southern tip of the north island,  and then turn around and follow the west coast up to the northern tip of the north island. They’d decided that with only 2 weeks left, going to the south island would be just too much driving and not enough ‘seeing’.

We found the Irish Rose Pub in the city centre. Luckily for us it was ‘Quiz Night’. So we entered the ‘Funkenstein’ team into the competition and played along while we had our pizzas and Guinnesses. Fun times. We didn’t win, but we didn’t come in last either. 

The Funks chauffeured us home at around 9:40. We sat in our room and read the news and watched some youtube videos. At around 11:30 we went to bed.

We had breakfast and packed up and said goodbye to Chris and Angela in Rotorua. It was grey and drizzling and Chris said the weatherman was warning of high winds through the pass down to Napier, so ‘be mindful’ driving today. 

The road down to Napier, on the east coast, goes through Taupo, a city next to New Zealand’s biggest inland lake, Lake Taupo, in the central part of the north island. Chris suggested three points of interest along the way; all three were in Taupo. In fact, we were considering Taupo as a possible place to park ourselves for a month or so, so this would be an opportunity to scout out the place.

After an hour’s drive south we arrived in the Lake Taupo area. Our first stop was at a honey store — featuring ‘Manuka honey’. Hey, that’s on that list of ‘must try’ items a NZ girl gave to Sue on one of our walks yesterday! Manuka honey is a monofloral honey that comes from the nectar of the manuka tree. Here was a place to have a taste. Sue was taking a closer look at the $117.50 price sticker on a small jar of honey, and made a comment about it to the lady tourist standing next to her, something about our good Canadian honey. Turns out the lady was also from Canada — whereabouts? Manitoba. Where in Manitoba? Near Brandon. Small world. And the honey? Meh, maybe next time we come to New Zealand!

Next stop, Huka Falls. Apparently this 11-metre high waterfall is the most visited and photographed natural attraction in New Zealand. Well, if everybody’s taking photos, we must too.

We were watching the clock — the next stop was at the Aratiatia Dam. Chris had told us that they open the dam at 10am, 12 noon, 2pm, and 4pm daily. It was a quarter to 12 when we parked our car in the roadside parking lot. We had just enough time to hike up (8 minutes) to the ‘top lookout’ (yikes, all this hiking and climbing must be cancelling out SOME of those calories from that big bag of chips!) We arrived at our lookout and found we were the only ones up there! Well, not for long. Soon we were joined by about 10 other camera-toting foreigners who soon finagled their way in front of us! And after a horn sounded 3 blasts, the dam gates of the Waikato River were opened. And sure enough, it only took a few minutes for the quiet river in the gorge to churn into a fast flowing waterfall! Apparently this was where they filmed the ‘barrel’ scene in one of the Hobbit movies (not that WE would have had a clue what that means!)

We hiked back to the car. Next stop — lunch. McDonald’s is right downtown, lakefront, in Taupo. We took note of the many hotels, motels, and apartment buildings along the shoreline drive as we drove through the city. And after refuelling the car, we were back on the road. 

The winding up-and-down drive to Napier took us 2 hours. And yes, there were buffeting winds at a few points, but really the drive was quite enjoyable. (At least for me. I may have a tough time trying to explain why the floorboards are pushed out on the passenger side when we return the car to the rental shop.)

We found our B&B. Parked the car. Were welcomed by our hosts, Graeme and Robin. Very friendly. Cyclists. Nice house, ‘neat as a pin’ Sue says. After serving us drinks (2 drinks each, actually) all four of us head out into town. They give us a tour of the surroundings. Lots of restaurants all around us. We’re right near the beach. Not far from golf courses and wineries. Bike trails everywhere, and they have bikes for us to use. 

Sue and I eat at a Thai restaurant. When we come back to our house, Robin has the TV on — shows me that ‘my’ NFL football games will be available on ‘free’ TV tomorrow morning at 10:30! So I won’t have to go sit at the hotel sports bar we’d visited earlier to make arrangements.

We visited until about 10pm. Then we went upstairs to our bedroom and I watched the highlights (low-lights?) of the two NFL playoff games I’d missed today. At 11:30 we turned out the lights.

By the time we were out of bed this morning, our hosts, Chris and Angela, had already left for their deep-sea fishing trip. Sue cut up bananas and kiwis, made toast, and Nescafe (yuck! that’s not a good way to start the day!) and we had breakfast. And then it was time to get our show on the road. Our little map/brochure in the room had 5 suggested hikes. We’d already done one of them yesterday (around Sulphur Bay). Today we were going to do 3 more.

Our first hike was right out of our house! and down the street, and across the big road, and BOOM! we were in the (California) Redwood Forest! Really! These redwoods came from California, were planted here as an ‘experiment’ in early 1900. Today this is truly a Redwood Forest. And there are hiking, cycling, and even equestrian trails throughout. Sue and I walked for about an hour and a half, for a 6.5km walk.

We got back to our B&B and hopped into the car. It was close to noon and time for lunch. Sue took some cake and pop from the house and we headed into town, looking for the grocery store. We were going to buy some sandwiches to take on our hike, but they had none! Oh well, we bought chips and hoped we’d find something  on the way.

We drove down to Blue Lake, about 7 kms south of our place. Parked the car in a grassy field next to the boat launch. Started walking along the lake shore. Hmmm… no canteen or cafe here. Oh well, at least we have those salt ‘n vinegar chips! and a can of 7up. Only after we’d nearly finished the bag of chips and were starting our hike along the trail did we notice a big fancy hotel, and an airstream trailer/canteen selling hotdogs and hamburgers, right across the street from the trail. Too late. Now we’re hiking.

The hike along the often narrow, always up and down, trail was supposed to be 5.5kms. Again, the scenery along the way was incredible — almost ‘mystical’. No wonder they filmed the Lord of the Rings series here. And we could hear, and occasionally see, the motorboats pulling water-skiers, or the sea-doos roaring around on the lake, kids laughing, people enjoying the lake. And we were not alone on the hiking trail, although it was not at all crowded or too busy — just enough to make you feel safe, like you’re not alone out here. We both were wearing sandals, and by the time we got back to the car our feet were feeling it. 

We drove back a bit and then took a turn east to another nearby lake, Lake Okareka. Our pamphlet said there was a boardwalk at the beginning of the walk, where we’d be walking through a sanctuary for black swans. It also said that the walk here would be about 1 hour to complete the 2.5km walk to the end of the trail, plus the same distance back. 

We decided to change footwear — exchanged our sandals for runners. And off we went, along the boardwalk. About 2kms into the walk we were walking a dirt trail between the lake and the mountain. Sheep were grazing and maaa-ing on the hillside. Of course that reminded us of Sue’s aunt, who used to ask Sue and her brother Dave when the were naughty young children, “Well jie nich Jeisus siene schoene schoapjes senne?”

We were at the far end of the lake when two ‘kiwi’ girls passed us. They asked us where we were from. One of them, who once been to Hamilton Canada and loved to travel, asked if we’d tried __?__ yet. No. We don’t even know what that is. And then, after first suggesting to Sue that she should enter these items into her phone, and Sue saying she doesn’t really know how to operate her phone, the young lady took Sue’s phone and entered a list of ‘must-try’ New Zealand foods into Sue’s phone for her! “And this should cost you less than forty bucks,” she said when she was done. Cool!

We walked back to the car. Drove back to our B&B. Chris and Angela weren’t back from their fishing trip yet. We had a cool drink and showered and cleaned up. Then our hosts returned. We’d just arranged to meet the Funks at a restaurant in town at 6pm when our hosts returned. They thought they might smoke one of the fish they caught, cut up another for ‘ceviche’, and they invited us to join them for a beer on the patio. I’m not one  to say no to that!

It was just after 6. The Funks would be waiting for us at our restaurant, Terrace Kitchen. Once again we apologized to our hosts for having to leave in the middle of happy hour, and then we hied it out of there. We met the Funks at the restaurant.  They were waiting for us. 

We got a table in the dining room. Ordered our food. Not all of it was as good as we’d hoped. We exchanged stories of our afternoon ‘goings on’ and ate our meals. At a little after 8pm we said goodbye — we’ll likely see them again in Napier tomorrow. 

We hurried home to our B&B, but needed to check on what’s up with BB King — why is he wearing  a paisley smock and how will he get into the at the end when he’s beat everyone up. 

Okay, that previous paragraph is not true. In fact, it makes NO SENSE. But I was so tired while I was writing my journal, I must have ‘fallen asleep’ but I kept writing! I don’t know where that comes from! I just read it to Sue, and she has no idea what I’m talking about! I’m just so exhausted from such a busy day…

Back at our B&B we sat outside on the patio and visited with Chris and Angela for another 2 hours. They were tired; so were we. But we enjoyed the company and the conversation until it was after 10pm and time to go to bed.

We said goodbye to Tony and Marigold this morning. We’ll probably never stay in a nicer place using AirBnB. We talked to Alex and Max for a while on FaceTime — schools are closed due to a blizzard today. I fiddled with the lighter socket in the rental car for a while — my phone charger isn’t working. It could be a fuse, or it might be that the plug isn’t fitting into the charging socket. I looked online to see where the fuse was, but I’ll wait to stop at a service station before I fiddle with the fuses. 

Bags were packed into the car and we were just backing off the driveway when the drizzle started. Oh no. Should we wait out the rain, or should we just go? We decided to just go. Good call — the rain stopped as quickly as it started and the sun came out. And the one hour drive south to Rotorua was great. Rolling hills, grazing sheep and deer and cattle, good road. But by the time we got to the big (stinky) lake at Rotorua my phone was almost dead. 

We found the B&B we’d booked but didn’t check in — too early. Instead we drove into town and had a look around. We finally parked near the lake and went for a long walk around Sulphur Bay, a geothermal wildlife refuge. We ended up back in the town centre. Stopped at a McDonalds for lunch. Then back to the car and back to our B&B, which was in a ‘suburb’ or Rotorua. 

I stopped at a Toyota dealership on the way. Explained my lighter plug problem. No problem. Have a seat in our waiting room, help yourself to tea or coffee, read a magazine. They took the car into the shop. Not the fuse. Must be the little adapter that doesn’t fit into the lighter socket. Now the mechanic and the service manager take a new Toyota GPS unit, gently cut open the package, in order to see if my plug is too fat — not a standard size. And then we head out into the car lot and find a new Toyota Yaris and see if the plug fits into THAT socket. Pretty tight. Then the mechanic draws a map for me, suggests I go into town and buy another plug from a discount store in town. Yikes! How much is this going to cost? They spent a good 45 minutes on my car and we’re still nowhere. I suggest they spray a little WD-40 on the plug and jam it into the socket. I don’t care if it never comes out — as long as it will work for the next few months. The service manager sits down in my car and does just that. We plug in my phone. DING! Charging. It works. Whew! He’s pleased. I’m about to head back into the shop to take care of my bill — he looks at me and says, “Enjoy your holiday!” No charge.

We drive the short distance to our B&B. Check in. Angela welcomes us into her bungalow. It’s not like the home we just came from, but it’s fine. We’ve arranged to meet the Funks back in town at a restaurant for 6pm. At quarter to Angela and her husband Chris invite us to join them on the patio for gin and tonics. Nice! After a short visit we excuse ourselves and head into town. We find the Funks at a bar on Eat Streat, an arcade full of bars and cafes and restaurants. We decide to go for Thai food. 

After dinner we discuss plans for tomorrow and the weekend. The Funks will go visit ‘Hobbiton’ tomorrow. The Nikkels will do a few more walks. We’ll probably meet for dinner again tomorrow. After some discussion it’s decided that we will NOT do the 19km Tongariro Alpine hike as we had planned. Maybe at a later date. Instead we’ll head to Napier, on the east coast, for the weekend. 

Back at our B&B, Chris and Angela are watching TV. We go to our room and fall asleep watching The National on my computer. 

After another excellent breakfast at our B&B in Bethlehem, Sue and I went for a walk around the neighbourhood. We marched all the way down from our mountain-top home, followed the biking and hiking paths that criss-cross the land below, and climbed back up the hill and home again. A short walk, but we were ‘saving’ ourselves for the tougher walk we were planning for this afternoon. We were waiting to hear from our car rental guy who was supposed to come before 1pm to swap our van for the Toyota Yaris we’d rented. It was 12:55 and we were just finishing our lunch when ‘Johnny’ showed up at the door. We moved all our stuff (golf clubs, suitcases, etc) from the van into the car. 

We’d just swapped vehicles when Brian sent a text; they were on their way to Mount Maunganui. We asked them to wait for us — the trip there would take us 20 minutes. We circled around the strip, looking for a parking spot. Man, the beach here is BUSY! Once we were parked we found Brian, Val, and Scott and started up the mountain trail. 

Mount Maunganui is 230 meters above sea level. The climb up is relatively easy. But not for everyone. Sue, Val, and Scott went on ahead of us. Brian and I walked at our own pace, stopping for frequent breaks. The temperature and conditions were great — although perhaps a bit warm. We were a little more than halfway up when we met Scott and the girls coming down. We persevered. And the view from the top was worth it. And then we turned around and tramped back down. We met the others at a small cafe for a cool refreshing drink. (Well, as usual, Scott had a FULL MEAL with his drink.) 

While Brian and I finished our drinks the other set out to find a grocery store. They would buy grocery wine and bring it along to the restaurant where we’d made 6pm reservations. Brian was busy booking an AirBnB in Rotorua for tomorrow night. When he’d finished that we found my car and drove it down the strip to the other end, where our restaurant was (OBR — which stand for ‘On Beach Road’).

We had a lovely supper and did a bit of planning for the next few days. Then we said goodbye and Sue and I drove back to our place. Back at our B&B our hosts invited us to join them (upstairs) for a glass of wine. We visited with Tony and Marigold until 10:30. Then downstairs for a bit of TV and journalling — until it was time to go to bed.