Taupo to Napier

The Otorohanga kiwi masquerading as Father Christmas waved us goodbye as we departed, heading for Taupo.

Goodbye Otorohanga

Our next stop was at the NZMCA Taupo Racecourse Park, for the next night.  The weather was fine and sunny and we were parked next to another Leisureline, and joined the friendly couple for 4zees. 

Staying overnight at Taupo Racecourse

Packing up the next morning we drove across the Napier Taupo Road, 150kms.  The scenery was a mixture of flat plateau land, farmland, forestry and native forest.  This road was damaged last year due to Cyclone Gabrielle and was closed for 5 weeks.  Its been a while since we have towed over this road, and I had forgotten just how long it was. 

Driving through Esk Valley at the end of the trip, it was devasting to see the damage done to this pretty, former agricultural area.  Gone are the orchards and vineyards, houses damaged beyond repair stand looking like those in a ghost town. The floods brought down unbelievable quantities of contaminated silt, which damaged the houses and productive land and is now in piles everywhere.  There is still such a lot to be done to repair the land and buildings, so sad.

Piles of silt everywhere

Napier is well known for the Art Deco buildings, and the double row of impressive Norfolk Palms each side of Marine Parade.

Marine Parade

We will be staying at NZMCA Erikson Road Park for seven nights.  This is quite a large camp and has room for about 180 vans.  There are a couple of places we want to go, and to catch up with my late sister’s family as well.  Napier usually has excellent warm weather, so it would be nice to have some sunny R&R for a few days.

All set up for the next wee while

Not too far from the camp is the Filter Room which makes cider and beer.  There is also a restaurant attached and we took ourselves out for a meal, we are on holiday after all, that seemed a good excuse.  I decided to try a glass of cider, but which flavour?  Peach, I decided, and Robin tried a lager.

The bar at the Filter Room

Our meals were delicious, fish and chips for me, and Robin chose sticky pork ribs, a huge serving but he managed to eat it all.  We had only ever had take-away fish and chips from this establishment before, so it was nice to try a sit down meal for a change.

Pork ribs and fish, the meals were very generous

It will be nice to stay put for several days and not have to pack up and get on the road for a while.