Gisborne/Napier

After a delicious dinner at the Fettuccine Brothers in Gisborne, which featured absolutely everything from Green lipped mussels, seafood chowder, Spaghetti with seafood and Spaghetti with coriander & lime meatballs including a ridiculously expensive but velvety smooth Grappa afterwards, we decided last night that we would leave for Napier today if we found a relatively nice hotel there for a relatively decent price.......... and indeed we did. Seeing as the Portside Hotel in Gisborne was fully booked so we couldn't have added another night there anyway, we booked ourselves into the Bluewater Hotel in Napier, actually in Ahuriri/Westshore. We have a nice room with harbour views and spa bath, very spacious although not recently refurbished, but very clean and for only 119 NZD per night.

Before we headed here though, we took some pictures in Gisborne which will be up on FlickR in a minute, and took a drive through the marvellous quaint yet busy city centre, and decided this could be the 3^rd location we could easily live in, after of course No. 1 Russell and also Whakatane, which we both really liked.

Of course we also went to the famous Landing Site where Captain James Cook first set foot on Kiwi grounds on October 8^th, 1769 (he falsely reported the 9^th which was later corrected).

The drive to Napier was our shortest so far, a little more than 200 km, so not even 4 hours (yes you have to calculate roughly 2 h for 100 km here, not only because of the bad and bendy roads, but of course also because you are stopping every now and then to take pictures, have a snack or simply admire the landscape).

We are actually both a bit tired and worn out today, which is probably no wonder after 2100 km within 8 days, of which actually only 6 days were driving days, so we were doing an average of about 350 km per day, which is quite exhausting on these roads. So we basically had dinner at 5.30 pm today, and oh Wanderer, if you ever get to Napier, do not miss out on the fabulous Speight's Ale House. It features not only absolutely every brew this fantastic brewery has ever come up with, but also really excellent food, cooked to your liking.

We came back to have another handle of Tui Ale here at the hotel attached bar in the Quayside Restaurant, before crashing in our room just to have a spa bubble jet bath, write this entry and post some pictures. I guess we could both really do with a quiet long evening, facing a lie-in tomorrow morning, before we then hit the centre of Napier to take a closer look at the Art Deco buildings and of course go into the famous Aquarium that apparently also houses a Kiwi bird.

On Satuday, we'll be heading to Wellington to spend the weekend in the capital before crossing the Cook Strait very early on Monday morning for our 3 day roundtrip on the South Island.

The weather has been absolutely beautiful the past days since Friday, we're walking and driving in shorts, and if it wasn't for the still chilly wind, you could think it's already summer here.

Alright then, we hope everyone back at home is safe and sound, we'll be probably reporting from Wellington at some point!