Chasing the sunshine

The day after the Tongariro, and that same cloud had gotten even lower. With visibility down to about 10 metres, we all headed to the Thermal Baths near Turangi to ease our aching joints. We livened up in the evening and polished off some cheap pasta and posh wine, before launching into a game of Cranium, which tested our wit, nerve and blind drawing skills. On Sunday, Vicky and Neil made their way back to Wellington. We checked the weather forecast (again), which said that Napier was the only place on the North Island that wasn't due five days of heavy rain.

Napier it was then. We spent a night in a nice enough backpackers in the 'Art Deco capital of the world'. We narrowly avoided staying in Napier Prison, which was offering accommodation - I thought it might be lively, interesting and different - it was deserted, spooky and strange - we made our excuses and left pretty quickly. We had a little look around Napier, took some standard 'Art Deco' snaps and then thought we'd travel up the East Coast (still the only place in North Island without rain).

We stopped for a few nights in Tolaga Bay and finally got the tent out, after carrying it around with us for two weeks. A pleasant little spot, right by the sea and the longest wharf in New Zealand (apparently the second longest concrete wharf in the Southern Hemisphere). The weather forecast wasn't fibbing this time. We had two short, t-shirts and jandels days, enjoyed the beach, had a nice walk - started to feel like we're on holiday!