Day 11- On the Road to Wellington

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Today we said goodbye to Rotorua and our great hosts, Lynday and Graham (and their cat Bootsie). They really made our stay a lot of fun and very enjoyable. As we made our way to Wellington (about 6.5 hours south), we saw a few sights along the way. We got lucky with our timing on our first stop because they open up a dam each morning at 1000 that floods the Aratiatia rapids. This is done to generate power and has become a tourist attraction for jetboating and kayaking. We drove up just as the gate was opening. A little way down the road, is a small waterfall called Huka Falls. A nice photo op, and then we were on our way. Amy wanted to stop to look at a local honey café and all we ended up with was a picture for your amusement. I hope you enjoy it more that we did. The views from the road were great and just before we got to Wellington we took a roadside pic of a snow covered mountain, Mt. Ngauruhoe. This was “Mount Doom” in the Lord of the Rings. After a quick stop at McDonalds (they have slushies!), we were in Wellington. We got a bit turned around with our directions plus the GPS tricked us a little with it's desciptions of roads vs paths. We finally figured it out and arrived at Nature’s Touch B&B. It’s being remodeled in the form of a ship. There’s currently the upper deck where we are and the lower deck is under construction. We ventured into town for food and supplies and that was about it for the day. We do have internet coverage but it’s spotty. We’ve received some concerned notes wanting to know if Cedric, the traveling gnome, is ok. He's doing well and we’ve decided to let Cedric have his own “day” in the near future. That’s all for now. Stay tuned.

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