Just Be Careful Out There...

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On our way to Napier, we stopped at Huka Falls, a beautiful glacial blue river and waterfall with jet boat rides. We're saving our Jet Boat money for Queenstown, but it was definitely worth taking the quick trip off the highway to see the falls. After this, we stopped for lunch in Lake Taupo. The view across the lake with the mountains in the distance reminded us of home, absolutely gorgeous! Taupo itself was overly touristy and not very quaint at all. The main highway runs through town and along the lakefront. There is a park on the lake side of the road, with all of the shops, restaurants, and parking on the opposite side. However, there are few if any crosswalks! Go figure. It was like playing Frogger to get across the highway! We were glad to be on our way and not staying here for the night.

We booked a bed and breakfast in Napier through the trusty I-Site and decided to walk around the town a bit. Napier is known for being the "wine country" of New Zealand with frequent comparisons made to Napa Valley. We don't drink wine and have never been to Napa so it's hard for us to say how alike they are. It was a Thursday evening between 6 and 7 PM and the town seemed shut down! There were no people walking around, stores were closed, restaurants were few and far between. We had the beach to ourselves. It was strange, almost eerie. We drove all around an industrial area and finally came across a marina area with several bustling restaurants. The lady at our B&B had recommended we try the local steakhouse, Speight's. The lamb chops there were tasty, as promised, and we had a nice view of the sunset. Unfortunately, the food didn't agree with J and he spent the next day an unhappy camper for the long drive to Wellington. We later learned that Speight's is a huge chain in New Zealand, there was one in just about every town! Just the sight of the sign was enough to send J's stomach into flip-flops! We never would have gone there had we known it was a chain, we like to eat at the local favorites. As we left the restaurant, the waitress made a special point of telling us to be careful in town at night and not to walk around. As we drove back to the B&B, we noticed not many cars out, but multiple police cars around town. It was so weird! We were really disappointed by Napier, especially this feeling of being unsafe and the ghost town atmosphere. It was the only place in New Zealand where we felt like this.

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