Napier and beyond

We arrived in Napier on the Monday afternoon. It was only a 3 to 4 hour bus trip between Rotorua and Napier. The scenery was spectacular, to say the least, as we travelled through the mountains to Lake Taupo, seeing the mountain ranges with snow sports going on. The town of Taupo is full of ski gear shops and thermal geiser places. Contrasts of hot and cold.
All the roads are up and down and turn around, dictated by the geography. It adds miles to the trip following a hillside down to a valley and then all the way up the other side to get around the next hill. They are all and I mean all steepsided and dotted with sheep.
We pulled into Napier through a part of town which didn't show us the deco architecture. That was for later when we walked from the bus terminal to the hostel we were staying in. This was right along the ocean, with big waves crashing in on a regular basis. The beaches are black pebbles.
We sure did a lot of walking there, taking in all the classic buildings. It's not only a lot of art deco built after the earthquake, but a lot of the victorian architecture left from before. There are spas galore, both old and new to fit the tastes of all the "taking of the waters" types.
We took in the cider instead...Scrumpy. 8.2 alcohol but tastes like sparkling juice. Very dangerous I'm sure.
A long uphill hike took us to a big bluff lookout where we could see up and down the coast of Hawke's Bay. Birds all over. Cats living off the land...well, the garbage in bins, as one came flying out as we walked passed. Heartstopping!
We left Napier on Thursday afternoon and were back in Wellington 5 more hours later.
The route took us through a huge gorge with an on the map wind farm at the top of the hills. I think these must be the largest windmills I have ever seen. They were visible from 20 miles away I'm sure.
Good to take a rest for a few days.