From Windy Welly to Napier

Right, so, sorry we've not posted too much recently... We've had a pretty quiet few days since we hit the north island. A day was spent in Wellington having a look at the sights, mostly Te Papa, the New Zealand national museum. Its a great place, huge, with lots of interactive exhibits. Next we headed off in the van across to the Pacific coast to a tiny little village called Herbertville, ensconced on an inlet just south of the beautiful Cape Turnagain. Its not really on the tourist map - we happened across it whilst trying to find somewhere to stay on the way to Napier. It's hours off the beaten track but once in the village there's a motor park, a pub and an amazing, long, wide, beautiful beach, framed by enormous cliffs and pastures containing grazing sheep. The motor park had not been changed for about 20 years (the showers still took old currency) and all the occupants seemed hell-bent on pikey style construction, turning every rotten, damp caravan into a maze of sheds and lean-tos. After a pleasant evening we stopped in the next morning at the hill that is NZ's longest place name... I won't try and spell it but if you can make out the picture, that's the road sign! So, after all this messing around in the back of beyond we came to Havelock North to pay a visit to our friend who sold us the van, Matt. He is in the middle of renovating his house but compared to camping in the van even a house with no furniture (and very nearly no toilet!) was a treat - no 10 minute walk in the middle of the night for the loo! We drank our good Marlborough wine with him and I cooked a chilli, a treat when usually we have no pans. The next day we had a wander around Havelock North, which is a lovely little town and had a very emotional (too much to describe here) run in with the total morons at AA Hastings. In the afternoon I treated myself to a haircut and then we settled in for the usual good feed and few bottles of wine... Andy and Matt working up to it with a game of squash. In well worn routine, the next day we packed up the van and set off into the wide blue yonder again, with a promise to Matt to find out about the Tongariro Crossing with a view to doing it the next day with him. A short stop in Art Deco Napier to view the Earthquake Museum and have lunch and we found ourselves in Turangi, on the southern shore of Lake Taupo.