So we finally decided on our outside seating area! I loved the grass but it was always full of prickles and as people who always go out in bare feet we had to change. After much deliberation it’s done. We also had to save the best orange tree ever, so hopefully it has enough room to breathe.
The beauty of not working means you can do lunch dates with your other unemployed mates.
So now we have the seating area at home sorted no point using it, time to go on holiday. The plan, to head over to the East Coast to see the whanau then head south..
After Gizzy first stop Napier, always pretty. We walked an interesting route to the Botanical Gardens, it was getting dark by the time we arrived but we had seen every hill on the way, I wasn’t popular 😂
Only 1 Swan at Swan Lake today 
Heading off the next day we took in Te Mata Peak. We of course walked up but apparently there is a road all the way to the top! A very windy day, a bit of a theme for this trip!
Carrying on to our next destination we took an 80km detour to this place!
We decided to stop in Masterton for the night… How difficult could it be to get a motel room on a Tuesday night… Turns out quite tricky! According to our very friendly motelier (who may have already been on the sauce!) only 4 motels were still operating as motels. Apparently at the onset of covid most of the motels were taken up as housing for the homeless and other social housing. He invited us to a public meeting later in the week, we had to decline politely we were moving on. Apparently Masterton is usually where all the agricultural sales reps stay and with so little accommodation now available, we were lucky to get in! We left early the next morning things to see and do.
Castlepoint soooo worth the side trip.
1. A lighthouse, we love a good lighthouse.
2. Lovely sandy beach
3. A good walk up a hill (we chickened out half way, was just tooooo steep for our poor knees)
4. Nobody here cos its September!
After a fabulous wind swept day we stayed in Greytown and treated ourselves to dinner out at the White Swan. Greytown is really cute old town NZ but unfortunately dark when we got there, so no pics! Not being regular dinner out peeps we had forgotten it was still level 2 so table service only at pubs. We got the last table in the restaurant, lucky! The 30+ people in the bar standing around tables were perhaps pushing the level 2 restrictions of 10 in a group a little.
About this time on our trip we had both developed a bizarre cold. During the day, out and about no symptoms happy campers. In the evenings in our motel rooms snotty and sore throats, maybe air conditioning issues! So kept up our social distancing for the rest of the trip… So nothing changed 🤣 we had hoped to catch up with friends later on in the trip but decided best for everyone if we kept our germs to ourselves. Next time Taranaki peeps. Anyhoo on with the trip..
The windiest day of the year, the day a truck blew over on the harbour bridge in Auckland, we decide to go to Cape Palliser the bottom of the North Island. To say there was a slight gale is an understatement. There were times when I felt our Jeep rocking and rolling and it’s a heavy car. Photos at times were difficult as I couldn’t hold the camera still. So what do we do… go up to a really exposed lighthouse. The best part was the workmen were repairing the handrail so there was only one, and boy did we need it. The chaps were on smoko when we arrived and made Wayne really jealous as their morning tea was fried fresh paua they had waded into the sea for! The area is well known for its seals, hundreds of them, and quirky launching vessels for their boats. No-one was out fishing that day!
Keeping the fairway tidy
Wairarapa you are pretty cool we had a blast!
East Coast done, heading to the west we popped in to see the only white kiwi in the world.
We had a night in Palmerston North as we headed west and hoped to explore, but torrential rain forced us into the museum then the car, Whanganui and the west here we come.
2020 a year to smell the roses. 