Immediately after lo kong's half-marathon in Havelock North, we headed out to nearby Hastings for lunch. Too bad we couldn't trek up the popular Te Mata Peak or otherwise called the Sleeping Giant nearby where we can have a 360° view of Hawke’s Bay. A nice leisurely round trip would have taken around 2 hours. Instead after lunch, we did a quick walkabout around the city of Hastings. It felt like a small town wrapped around a railway track and was very quiet even on a Saturday afternoon.
Soon we were on our way on the serpentine road that connects Hastings to Taihape. Recalculating the driving distance of our original plan to head further south to Wellington, it seemed to be a tad too rush to enjoy our driving adventure. So we have decided to take up Kenrick's suggestion and take a scenic drive along this quiet route that threads through the valleys and headwalls of the mighty Ruahine Range. We were not disappointed at all with all the treasured views from green to snow-capped mountain, vast valleys, awesome waterfalls and narrow bridges.
Lo kong drove on and on, carefully maneuvering the sharp corners as well as the uphill and downhill asphalt leading to the town of Taihape, a much anticipated destination on these quiet but not really that lonely road. We couldn't slow down, much less to stop for any photo shots as that would have begged for honking from the other cars or lorries tailing behind us ... it was quiet embarrassing that we were even honked for slow driving.
What was supposed to be a 2.5 hours drive ended almost 4 hours snailing up and down the road when we came a crossroad. There we made a quick change of plan and headed northboud to Waiouru instead of southwards toward Taihape. Heading to Waiouru was a shorter route getting to the next 'must see' attraction on our list, the Waitomo Caves. However, we found out a bit too late that there were no campersites in Waiouru. After our dinner at an Italian diner, we continue our way to Turangi, the trout fishing capital of the world where we put up the night. Lo kong was completely exhausted by then.
3 Bubbles:
You live around Hawkes' Bay? That's quite near Wellington where my daughter is...
I live in Shah Alam, Malaysia. I actually went on a 2 weeks vacation to North Island, New Zealand. Drove around in a campervan while my lo kong took the opportunity to run in a full marathon and a half-marathon. Original plan supposed to take us to Wellington but had to cancel as it was too rush.
Ahhhh!!! I see.
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