Our last week of campervan life saw us travelling around Poverty Bay from "surf city" Gisborne to Art Deco city Napier at the southern end of Hawke's Bay.
We realised that the coast along these bays was not really suitable for many of the water sports that we hoped to do and we followed the suggestion of fellow campers from the East Cape and, after a relaxing dip in the thermal baths in a jungle setting in Morere, we headed into the Te Urewera National Park and spent a couple of days at Lake Whaikeremoana. We found a delightful spot by the lake and all four of us tried our hand at trout fishing.
We later learnt that the warm water of the lake had driven the fish to a depth of about 60 metres. Alister enjoyed some solo kayak with fabulous scenery, Mattéo and Juliette joined in for some exploration on a Canadian canoe. 
We drove down around the coast of Hawke Bay, visiting some savage beaches and negotiating tight gorges in our 6.6 metre 3.6 tonnes van on the way. The town of Napier was as lovely as we had expected and after weeks of wild nature, we were treated to a couple of days of elegant culture in this Art Deco city. Th destruction of the city in 1931 by earthquake and fire gave rise to a completely nenovated cityscape in the style of that time - Art Deco.
Aside from visiting the city centre, we took time for lazy holiday activities at the national aquarium, the dolphines, seals and penguins at Marineland and a lovely afternoon at the swimming baths.
Visiting Hastings, and its surroundings on the way, we made our way down to Masterton where Delphine, Mattéo and Juliette were dropped off at Uncle Roger's house whilst Alister dashd down to Wellington to return our trusty old camper van.
We've already had a lot of fun in Masterton, but this will feature in the next blog .....
We realised that the coast along these bays was not really suitable for many of the water sports that we hoped to do and we followed the suggestion of fellow campers from the East Cape and, after a relaxing dip in the thermal baths in a jungle setting in Morere, we headed into the Te Urewera National Park and spent a couple of days at Lake Whaikeremoana. We found a delightful spot by the lake and all four of us tried our hand at trout fishing.
We later learnt that the warm water of the lake had driven the fish to a depth of about 60 metres. Alister enjoyed some solo kayak with fabulous scenery, Mattéo and Juliette joined in for some exploration on a Canadian canoe. 
We drove down around the coast of Hawke Bay, visiting some savage beaches and negotiating tight gorges in our 6.6 metre 3.6 tonnes van on the way. The town of Napier was as lovely as we had expected and after weeks of wild nature, we were treated to a couple of days of elegant culture in this Art Deco city. Th destruction of the city in 1931 by earthquake and fire gave rise to a completely nenovated cityscape in the style of that time - Art Deco.
Aside from visiting the city centre, we took time for lazy holiday activities at the national aquarium, the dolphines, seals and penguins at Marineland and a lovely afternoon at the swimming baths.
Visiting Hastings, and its surroundings on the way, we made our way down to Masterton where Delphine, Mattéo and Juliette were dropped off at Uncle Roger's house whilst Alister dashd down to Wellington to return our trusty old camper van.
We've already had a lot of fun in Masterton, but this will feature in the next blog .....
1 comment:
It could be the next time I contact the website you will all be on the way to, or even back, in Europe.How time flies.You have obviously seen much of NZ and used all the facilities you could
Grandad
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