I had a sleep in this morning because a cloudy day was expected so there was little point waking up for the sunrise.  I still managed to get up and away by 0800 though and headed for Napier.

I am a little ahead of my proposed itinerary so rather than a straight runthrough to Napier, I thought I would try  a more circuitous route.

I spotted 0n the map a little road  going cross country between Taihape and Napier… this allowed me to head for Palmerston North and then head of east to Napier part way there.  It looked to me like a much more scenic route… but I wasn’t sure of a section of the road marked “unsealed” on the tourist map I had.

It was indeed a much more scenic way to get to Napier – with some lovely countryside between Turangai and Waiouru – with some  views of Mt Ngauruhoe still with some snow on it – although the clouds were fairly low so I didn’t get any good photos of it.

I was 20km into the Taihape to Napier Rd, before I realised that I may not have enough fuel to get me to the end… I Ummed and Ahhhed, but because the area was fairly isolated, decided to turn back to Taihape to refuel (and get some lotto tickets too :)).  Thank goodness I did – because I had only had 1/4 tank left – and used nearly 1/2 tank on the road – so I would have run out of fuel in the middle of pretty much nowhere  (which would have been an experience – but probably NOT a fun one).

The road turned out to be a fabulous experience – and a great opportunity for lots of photos – see my PhotoSpot of the Taihape to Napier Rd for more info and photos .

I ended up getting to Napier a bit after lunch… had a quick drive around the city centre (which was very pretty, but VERY Touristy (and a bit to over the top Art Deco for my liking).

I headed for the Holiday Park, checked in, had a shower, did some washing and settled in for a busy afternoon of reviewing photos and posting.  Now that I have (finally) caught up I feel I can relax for a bit… and it has just started raining so a great excuse to chill out and do not much of anything at all 🙂