Hello,

It has been a few days and we are at a camp with wifi so time for another update. :-)

Since leaving Rotorua we travelled over to Napier on the east coast- wine country but sadly all the wineries were closed when we rolled into town. The city does have some cool art deco architecture so it wasn't a total loss. We also had our best meal out of the trip (best lamb in a while).

After Napier we headed into the interior to Ohakune, a sleepy ski village known for it's carrots. On the way we took a long hike along the Tongiriro crossing (see attached photo- Mount Doom in the flesh). It was spectacular!!!



Tony&Doug: While in Ohakune we went to a local pub- the picture of the burger below is for you. Its called "The Boss". Double sized beef patty + slab of steak + lots of bacon + egg + fried onions + cheese + bun (I think there was some veg ;-) ). I almost died eating it. :)



Today we drove to New Plymouth on the west coast. It was a very "exciting" drive- gravel roads (unexpected), washed out sections of road (against sheer cliffs- 100m drop and several of them), along with some non-existant roads our gps wanted us to take. That said it was some of the most picturesque scenery either of us have seen. It was a very good exposure to rural New Zealand- we shared the road with several herds of cows and some sheep- along with a few startled drivers who didn't expect to see a campervan on a one lane stretch of road in the middle of nowhere. Jody was a total rockstar for the drive- especially in the tricky spots. This trip should put to rest any doubts in Jodys driving prowess....

Tomorrow we head out to Waitomo for some cave exploration and to see glow worms.

Hard to believe we are off to Melbourne on Thursday!

Lewis/Hazel: sorry to hear about the crazy weather in Vancouver...it rained here today.... ;-)

-Dan&Jody

-- Post From My iPhone