Tuesday morning we were off bright and early. I had a little 'incident' on the way out of Wellington where I kinda, yeah, hit a curb. I'm telling you, this left hand driving thing is tricky!

More winding mountainous roads. We stopped at a gas station and notice a little bump in the tire. Hmm. A very nice man changed it for us. The spares here are real tires, not ones that are made only for short distances, so we were off again in no time.

Six hours later we were in Napier, which is hands down my favourite destination on the North Island (now that I've seen 95% of it.) The weather was incredible and it was hot! Napier and the surrounding Hawke's Bay region have a typical Mediterranean style climate with some of New Zealand’s highest sunshine hours.

This makes the region famous for its high producing vineyards, apple and stone fruit orchards and wide range of horticultural crops. It was noteworthy that we arrived in Napier during the aftermath of the Asian Tsunami since Napier's claim to fame is being the Art Deco Capital of the world following a massive earthquake (7.9 on the Richter scale) in 1931. Fires destroyed most of Napier and the city was rebuilt in the style of that era and by the end of the decade Napier was the newest city on the globe. It is also one of the more troubling spots for New Zealanders due to it's proximity to a major fault line, which could potentially result in a tsunami as well.

There is such a variety of buildings in the styles of the 1930s - Stripped Classical, Spanish Mission, and above all Art Deco, the style of the 20th Century. Napier's Art Deco is unique, many with Maori motifs. The city centre is also a stone's throw from the ocean, so you feel right at the centre of all the action, and it has fabulous shops and cafes.

I had booked some very unique accommodation for us that night! Closed down and abandoned for 10 years, Napier Prison re-opened the gates and re-emerged as a backpackers hostel. It's New Zealand's oldest prison, complete with caged in areas for your visiting pleasure. We stayed in a very grim, small cell. There were bars on the doors and windows and NO comforts. Even the bunk beds were prison-issue. The shower and toilet situation were interesting to say the least, but the owners have a great sense of humour about the whole thing. "Don't drop the soap" signs were displayed clearly outside the bathroom area. :) I'm glad I stayed there, but one night was enough for me.

Gisborne

The next afternoon we were off to Gisborne. Arrived at the YHA there after a three hour car ride to find our accommodation plans were a bit screwed up - as in, he thought we were arriving the day before and when we hadn't he gave our beds away, but we worked it out.

Got up at 5:00 the next morning and drove down to the beach where we witnessed the first daylight for the world. Didn't have a fabulous sunrise because it was raining lightly, but there was something intensely special about being out there, alone on the beach as a new day begins, setting off the chain reaction for the rest of the planet.

Not much else to do here if you're not a surfer so we set off again that afternoon as the rain intensified.

Mount Monganui

Another three hours in the car and we were in Mount Monganui. The rain on the way was coming down in sheets, I've never seen anything like it. The sky was striped with rain. We saw one unfortunate accident as someone slipped off the winding road and ended up in the river below. Guardrails are something of a rarity here, and as I've mentioned there is not a lot of room between road and ditch, or steep hill. But we arrived safely at one of the Kiwi Elves summer homes as the rain continued on through the night.

There were probably around 15 of us staying at this lovely home just minutes from the beach. That night we all had a roast chicken dinner and played Cranium very badly. And I don't just say this because I have an uncanny knack for consistently losing at board games. I say it because I think Des didn't read the rules correctly and was making things up as we went. :)

On New Year's Eve day the rain ceased and it was brilliantly sunny and warm. We spend most of the day at the beach, enjoying the sun and watching the waves crash into giant rocks jutting out of the water. In the late afternoon we had a huge BBQ as more partiers arrived. Steak, chicken, sausage, scallops, asparagus and salad - it was a good start to a great night.

The evening was spent consuming far too much champagne for my own good and then proceeding to a little pub called ImVibe. I have some ridiculous pictures of me doing the "running man", beer in hand, on the way to the bar. As you can imagine it was all downhill from there. Once we arrived, I somehow ended up spending my time with 5 kiwi truckers. They were such a riot, all decked out in leis and costumes. I ended up with 3 leis and a hat on my head, how they got there is a mystery, but I had so much fun. I sent a text message to Matthew at midnight, which I realized after said, " Happy New Weir."

The next day I wanted to die. I'm not a big drinker and I think something hit me funny, maybe something from the BBQ the day before but I was NOT in good shape. However,the pictures I have and fun experienced were definitely worth it. We departed from the summer home, bidding new and not-so-new friends a fond farewell and Nynke drove us ANOTHER 3 hours to Turangi.

Sunday was mostly spent recovering and sorting out what gear we'd need for the next day because our plan was to do the Tongariro Crossing...