Road Trip part 3

After admiring the murals and having coffee in Napier we drove to Opotiki via the hot pools at Morere (where we had the little pools to ourselves).

At Morere you walk through a beautiful bush area to the pools...

A beautiful morning at Opotiki.  We cycled the Dunes Trail which is about an hour each way.

The end of our cycling and walking road trip.

Road Trip part 2

As a break from biking we explored Hastings foodie market...

..then had coffee at Clive before heading north of Napier to Waipatiki... 

...where we walked part of the coastal track before having a picnic lunch.

 Back in Napier for ice creams and a wander round some galleries looking at arty stuff.

Road Trip

We spent a few days tiki-touring to Napier and back.  First we headed to Taupo where we spent the night and the next morning we cycled along the lake for about an hour each way.

One of NZ's 'big things' - a sheep at Tirau

...and this is the fish at Taupo

Painted bikes along the waterfront

Nice sculpture.

On the trail

.......

Next we drove over the ranges and down to the coast at Napier where we stayed at our friend Katherine's place.

Napier has some great cycle trails.  We did the Black Bridge to Red Bridge return ride which was about 3 and 1/2 hours including coffee stop at the Red Bridge...

We had lunch at a cafe on the waterfront at Clifton.  We got to listen to live music because there was a wedding reception so spent a while chilling out.

back to Waiheke

Poor Malcolm stayed at home working on the rental property we are renovating while I had another short break on Waiheke Island.

We took a ferry from Gulf Harbour to Auckland, then another to Waiheke.

Our apartment was in the centre of Oneroa, just above this cafe where we had brunch.

The view from our balcony.

We checked out the interesting shops in Oneroa and the art galleries...

..there were sculptures along the street too.

A swim to cool off at the beach.

Day 2: we started with a 2-hour stroll around the headlands north of Matiatia.  Amazing views...

Then we took the bus around the island to Onetangi.  We walked up to the Miro Vineyard...

...where we had platters and wine under the shady olive trees.

A  swim at the beach before catching the bus back to Oneroa.

Finally we had to head home.  Waiting for the ferry in Auckland we met these guys...

Final stop - a picnic at Wenderholm.