Ohope, Napier, Pauto, and K saves the day

Sometimes it's hard to find the time to write, sorry. Travelled to Whakatane and booked in a cheap best ever motel in Ohope, hoping to get a trip to White Island, one of NZ active volcanos. Trip was cancelled because of high winds but the day after we set off with about 60 other people. In the bay is a huge island which looks just like a volcano, that is Whale Island. White takes about 90 min from the coast, E noticed we were more than 178* east. Can't get much further than that. We went ashore in rubber dingies after being issued with hard hats, gas masks and instructions on what to do in the event of a serious eruption, they usually only last a minute or two. E spent some time wondering about the small print in her travel insurance, but soon forgot about that when we saw steam hissing like jet motors, warm streams and a large bubbling pool that was only about 50* warm at the moment. Check it out on whiteisland.co.nz, the camera takes pictures so you might see us on friday 27 nov about 11.20. Ohope has lovely beaches and a wild marshy area where there is lots of birds. We decided to make for Gisborne through the Gorge so took a trip to east cape, the most easterly point in NZ or the world apart from a couple of islands. The last 22 km were a gravel road, hanging on to the cliff edge, and it had caved in at several places. There was no traffic to speak of apart from a huge lorry which looked as if it had no intention of backing so K managed that with bravur. The lighthouse at the cape was an easy climb of about 900 steps.

On the way to Gisborne we picked up a hitch hiker smelling quite a lot of yesterdays beer. His story was a bit confusing but we gathered that he had had an argument with his girlfriend last night, left to go home which was the other side of the country, changed his mind and was now trying to get back to gisborne. All of a sudden he asked to be dropped off, he'd seen his girlfriend driving the opposite way. E sent her a text as he had forgotten his phone and we left him by the roadside. He never told us his name so we called him Bob. Fantastic drive otherwise, up hills down into valleys and round mountains. That is typical of all the driving we've done lately. In Gisborne you can look at a statue of Captain Cook and one of Young Nick who was the lad who called "Land ahead" when the Endeaver sighted Gisborne in 1769. You can eat fish and chips outside a beach cafe too, if you're in the mood. We turned inland after lunch and drove to lake Waikarmoana, not a good drive as about 30 km were gravel and the road was narrow and steep. There was no room at the inn so the car had to turn itself round and drive back, something it was not too happy about. We met about 5 cars on the route, one on a sharp turn going too fast. It braked skidded and missed us because there happened to be a grass verge to drive on to which K very expertly did. We aimed for Napier, on the coast again but didn't quite make it so we stopped at a motel which was the most expensive and the worst we have stayed at. So we arrived at Napier the next morning. Napier was more or less wiped out in an earthquake in feb 1931 and they decided to build it up again in the art deco style which was popular at the time. This has been very succesful and the town is beautiful. We saw the YHA along the sea front and booked in for 2 days. Then we took a guided tour round the town looking at all the interesting buildings and chatting to a lassie from Gateshead. Then we took in the museum, grabbed a biscuit and went off to the planetarium for a talk on the night skies. Late dinner that night and dropped into bed shattered but happy. At breakfast everyone was talking about it. Did you hear it? Did you feel it? We slept through an earthquake, 5.1 on the scale . Sent a parcel of K's boots together with little nick nacks off to Fruangen on 1st Dec. Should arrive just after christmas. From Napier we turned inland and drove through mist and rain to Taupo, which is a good base for walking. We sat in the car with the rain pouring down and had our lunch at the Huka falls, well worth a visit. It stopped raining so we were able to view them, take a beautiful cruise right up to the boiling waters and watch when the damm opened it's gates to flood the river which is just wow.