NZ Day 3 & 4

Wednesday 30th March.

What can I say; more windy roads and beautiful country, saw more cows and even some Banded Galloways!!!!!! They MUST be cold country beefers as the only other place we have seen them is Tasmania. More pretty coastline. Stopped at a place called Waihi Beach and had lunch with the seagulls. Couple of NZers said Hi and told us that the distance we had covered in 2 days had taken them 14. I guess that’s like us in Aus. We stopped at Thornton Holiday Park overnight. The beach is just a hop away and the photo opportunities lend themselves to the professional photographer – unlucky for us, we’re not. Drinkies, dinner, books and goodnight. Thornton Beach is just before Whakatane.

Thursday 31st March



Left Thornton Beach to head to Napier – used the Garmin to navigate our way ‘cos some people said go this way and others said no go this way as the roads are not as windy….all the bl**dy roads are windy. Anyway headed off on a windy road; after a little way came upon a sign that advised us that the next 90 klms would be dirt road!!! As well as windy of course. We later calculated our staggering average speed of less than 40kph. Some of the scenery was awe inspiring – only problem was that for the most part the road was not only windy and very uppy and downy, there was nowhere to stop to take many photos. We were a little bit worried as the vehicle rental agreement stated that we were not to drive on dirt roads – never mind the fact that half the ‘normal’ roads were under repair and were dirt. Found a Top 10 Park and stayed the night. The sand of Hawkes Bay was really black and the weather a bit blowy. The park had its own rabbits running around with a night cage near the office.