New Zealand Day 4 From Volcanoes to the Beach

We had to rise and shine on day four to be sure to enjoy our breakfast at the Distinction, it had a wide range of foods ranging from traditional English to Chinese porridge. Then it was off to Wai o Tapu thermal wonderland, for a date with the Lady Knox Geyser. The geyser would likely erupt every day at some point, but to take the mystery out, they put some soap powder in it every day at 10:15 a.m. to keep the tourists coming. We really enjoyed walking around the rest of the park too, and were suddenly faced with our first difficult choice.

We had to decide whether to keep enjoying thermal wonder land at a normal human being pace or rush off so that we could make it in time to get to the national aquarium in Napier. We decided to move the aquarium to the "next time" list, and kept strolling around looking at all the cool colors and natural wonder.

We wandered around a bit there snapped up the requisite photos, and then kept it moving towards our final destination. After an hour and a half, we pulled up in Lake Taupo, New Zealand's largest lake. We dropped in at the i-site there, where they set us up with a room for the night in Napier. We stopped at a really great Kebab shop/Cafe, (that I'll find the card for eventually) where the Manager chatted us up about a whole bunch of things, including US politics. It turns out the rest of the world is pretty interested in what we're doing here the first Tuesday of November, so vote with care! We pulled up at the Fairley Motor lodge, and met the really nice gentleman in charge of the place. He was kind enough to recommend a restaurant for dinner, and sent us off to our nice little room. We walked over to the Westshore Fish Cafe and were really charmed by this cozy little restaurant. The owners are Dutch, and make a Dutch apple pie that makes the expression "as American as apple pie" obsolete. The seafood basket appetizer is worth making the trip for alone. We walked back to our room past the beach, and decided we'd start the next morning with a walk out on the beach. I almost forgot, it was this day that we learned the value of looking for signs directing us off the main road to interesting stuff. A very unassuming scenic overlook sign led us to this waterfall someplace between Taupo and Napier. You're on vacation, stop and smell the roses every once in while.