Dear Viewers, once again, this is a longish post, but please stay strong. Eventually, it will take you to the Timber Trail, a two-day ride, almost 90 kilometers and lots of ups & downs. Stamina + endurance!
Dumping rain when I left Wellington in another rental car. Thought you were done with museums? Nope! The Hawke’s Bay Museum was a little gem featuring nostagic memorabilia from the old days…
Longish drive to Napier, famous for their Art Deco buildings. First tho’, I checked out the beach just south, but chose not to drive to Cape Kidnappers (shown first). An Earthquake that wrecked the town caused Napier to rebuild with an Art Deco theme, and I’ve included a few other artistic bits…
After checking out downtown Napier, I stayed on the other side of the peninsula and took a nice walk through the estuary across the street at dusk…
The next day, I drove to Taupo. In spite of some rain, there was a nice farmer’s market and a power boat race. This batch also features a trip to Huka Falls, and interesting sites thereabouts…
Even before I left the hotel in Taupo, Ron called and encouraged me to get to Rotorua in time to go biking with his mates. So I did! Perhaps the hardest uphill of my time there, still a fun downhill. The next day we did another ride near town, not as brutal and with a much smoother, super-fun downhill.
Went to visit Heather’s office at the Art Village, and this batch includes Ron in the garden and in the kitchen – related endeavors…
After two days biking locally, I got to go do some zip lines on the Rotorua Canopy Tour, the very cool place where Julian now works. Went with two nice families, one from NZ, one from North Dakota, two girls each. Great fun, and lots of nature lessons…
Went out to dinner with the crew & Cooper for Heather’s birthday dinner. (Comparing apples & oranges? Watch Cooper drink both juices together!) This batch also include couples haircuts…
The next morning at 0-dark thirty, we were up and off to the HQ of our Timber Trail shuttle. Off we went on the “day 1” ride, almost 40 kilometers, and an extra hike to the top of Mt. Pureora with many spectacular views on this clear, sunny day. (Some graffiti in the shelter huts.) Made it to the lodge for a wonderful dinner (after a more wonderful cold one)! Note the amazing suspension bridges, etc. But we’ll start with a map of the almost 90 kilometer track…
The first shot is from the lodge the evening before. The rest are from Day Two – more beautiful forests, dramatic vistas, suspension bridges, and old train tracks. We made it back, having to do several more kilometers in the flats and on the road. (Almost 90K in total!)
This last stretch was on paved roads by farms, sheep, deer, cemeteries, etc. A lovely drive to a hearty dinner and a good night’s sleep at Tony’s B&B. Amazingly, we were going to do another epic bike ride the next day, but rain in the weather canceled our helicopter – probably for the best!
We went to a hot pool that evening, and again the next day before heading back to Rotorua…
More fun to come…