Awoke to glorious sunshine! We sat outside and had our breakfast basking in the sun's rays. This is what a New Zealand summer is really like. It is a pity we have to move on south as it would have been nice to have sat in the sun for a little longer but the Islander Ferry beckons together with Part 2 of our adventure.
We did not go back into Napier but did visit, albeit briefly, Hastings to fill up with diesel. Whilst we were at the garage we spoke to one of the staff (who was most concerned to ensure we were comfortable filling up by ourselves) about the 'diesel tax'. Diesel is much cheaper than petrol, as no tax is charged at the pump. The tax is paid by the purchase of a 'permit' – in addition to road tax – to travel a certain number of miles. Our van has a permit for up to 20,000 miles, once it goes over this figure another permit will need to be purchased. We have bought a package from Maui which means that this element of travelling does not impact on us.
We stopped on our way to have coffee at Waipawa, an interesting little town full of second hand shops. We did note all the way along the number of towns that had art-deco buildings. We suppose it is not strange that when the earthquake struck in the 1930s other towns in the area suffered significant damage that then required replacement buildings to be constructed. No doubt the architects responsible for the development of Napier produced a job lot of designs that other towns could acquire.
Our only other stop was at Mount Bruce Visitors Centre where we had our lunch. We did not go in as we did not have time, so potentially we have lost our only chance to see a live kiwi. We have to say that our list of things to see next time we come is growing at an alarming rate!
The next section of the journey down SH2 was, to say the least, quite an experience. The road goes over the southern end of the Tararua Range of mountains. To say the inclines were steep is like saying that Mount Everest is only a foothill of the Himalayas, the road clung to the side of the mountains like a snake climbing round a tree trunk and, despite Sue's exhortations to “Look at that!”, Bert concentrated on keeping the van on the road, moving forwards and keeping out of the way of those motorists who seemed to have either a death wish or great knowledge of the road. We have no idea as to how high we climbed but groups of Sherpas kept appearing offering to carry us up the last bit to the summit. The sight of various cleared landslips did not improve Bert's equilibrium and he admits it was one of the most scary drives of his life.
And then we had to come down! Some of the corners had recommended speeds of 25 kph (and that is about 15 mph) and Bert considered that too fast. It did seem a slower descent than ascent but that may well have been wishful thinking! We finally arrived in Wellington very grateful for the power of the Mercedes engine in the 'van which had responded to every demand from Bert.
As we were in Wellington we decided to visit the Maui office there to discover how to open the safe built in to the van. There was a man in the office who agreed with us that leaving the instructions for the safe's operation inside a locked safe was not really very helpful. He extracted the instructions, waited for Sue to set a new passcode and re-open the safe and we were then on our way to our last campsite on North Island.
This particular site obviously caters for those travelling to and from South Island and needing a place to rest for the night. However one of the big benefits of the site was that it was attached to a motel and in the motel was a restaurant. We had a really enjoyable meal of bluenose (a fish found in the waters around NZ) which we felt we really deserved after our long drive down.
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