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| Goodbye, Wellington! Love ya! |
We left a bit later in the morning, late enough to avoid morning rush hour. We've finished heading south, and will be looping back up north towards Auckland from this point on. Today will be our longest driving day, with five to six hours before we reach Taupo.
JQ takes the first shift driving. She breathes easier once we're outside of Wellington's narrow twisting streets and back on the big highways.
We are going to swing by the Park Hotel Ruapehu on our way past Tongariro, because I forgot my pants in my hotel room there. Yes, I've been wandering around pants-less this whole time. It has been awkward for me, and for all of Wellington, quite frankly. (And now you know why JQ didn't want to leave the hotel room with me.) 😜
You know how a GPS works? You put in a destination, and it directs you there? JQ is a bit like that. You put in a destination, but she drives only until she finds a coffee shop she likes. At which point, she pulls over, buys coffee, then gets me to drive because she's busy drinking coffee like a pro. (Assuming there is any professional coffee drinkers. I wouldn't know.)
So instead being caffeinated up and ready to roll, she comes to a complete halt which she finds her caffeine.
Today, she finds it in a cute little restaurant called The Woodshed Cafe, just outside Sanson. As you might have guess, they're going with a "sheep" theme, with a whole line of stuffed toys and figurines of sheep. Even the washrooms are divided into Rams and Ewes. I have no idea if the coffee is sheep-themed, but JQ seems to find her coffee acceptable.
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| Hill country |
We stop at the local grocery store to take a break, both to use the washrooms, and to eat ice cream. 🍦 We always have time to stop for ice cream. For a brief period, while we're sitting there, we can see the peak of Mt Ngauruhoe (Mt Doom). Appropriately enough, though, the clouds settle over the peak once again in short order, giving it an appropriate aura of gloom. It has only been peeking out of the clouds for short periods of time in all the days we've been here.
Hitting the road for the final leg of today's driving, we are heading around Tongariro and back towards Taupo. It is on the other side of Lake Taupo that we can see from this overlook.
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| Looking towards Lake Taupo. We need to drive around to the other side. |
Our hotel is actually a collection of little cottage/cabins. The main room is small, but pretty darn cute and cozy, and to balance it out, the bathroom is pretty large. Plus, it has a microwave, which is always a bonus, especially since we've been doing without. So nice to be able to have heated food! And, as today is definitely cool and rainy, we actually turn on the heater. (Oh wait, JQ also cranked the heaters in Park Hotel Ruapehu, which was also cool and rainy. So I guess it's not a first.)
In a reversal of our usual dynamic, JQ decides to head out to the Wairakei Terraces and Thermal Hot Spa, and I decide to stay in. Part of the reason for this is that I did not bring along a swimsuit (due to my general lack of swimming ability), and I have also not felt inclined to buy one at inflated New Zealand prices just for the very occasional use that might happen on this trip. Plus, it was a longer driving day, so I'm fine with just relaxing here.
So, off she goes, my brave little bird, out of the warm nest and into the rain, to find her way into the even warmer thermal pools. I have to admit, a cool and rainy day is the perfect time to sit in a thermal pool (if one has a bathing suit).
When she returns, she is super happy with the trip, although she did say that one of the thermal pools was so hot that she couldn't stand it for more than three minutes, and she's not sure how they haven't run into lawsuit issues. I guess one was too hot, one was too cool, and the other was just right. 😉
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