THE HONEYMOONERS

We headed East to a town called Napier from Rotorua. Our Lonely Planet guide compared the town to Miami Beach because of its art deco designs. How could we not stop by? Bradley was looking at the map and found what we thought was a great short cut through a national park on an "unsealed road." We had never heard of an unsealed road and decided it was a great idea - the drive was estimated to take about 5 hours. We hoped it would shorten the trip. So we filled up on gas (thank gd) and headed out. After an hour of driving we got to the "unsealed road" and discovered the definiton- a gravel road through STEEP mountains. It was not the type of road an RV should ever be on! It was probably the worst 5 hours we have ever experienced! Since we drive on the left here and the RV is so large we are constantly telling each other "LEFT" meaning we are about to crash into the left side of the road! So now we had unbelievably windy roads (which we held the horn the whole time around the turns for fear of another car coming) and no railings to save us from falling off the mountain. I have somehow developed a fear of heights on this trip so it was not fun. Halfway through the drive we ended up down the mountain and were amazed to find wild sheep, cows, and brombies (horses) wandering around ON THE ROADS. We had to wait for a while for a pack of cows to move out of the way! That was a nice break before heading up the next mountain. We also stopped about 3 hours into the drive and found a great hike. It led us to one of the highest peaks and we had great views of the lakes at the bottom of the mountains. So the shortcut did have SOME advantages. To finish off the crazy drive where we were both still tense being on gravel roads, a duck (we think it was a duck) decided to fly into the windshield making a huge thud and even leaving a few feathers on the side window. It was very shocking and pretty gross.

Finally we arrived to Napier around 8:30 pm, after dark. We figured we would go to dinner and then try to find a place to "free camp." That's when you just pull off and park instead of paying for power at a campsite. The advantages are it's free and the disadvantages are no heat or DVD. Since it was so late, it was silly to pay to stay somewhere. So after dinner we drove around and found a public car park (parking lot) and even asked a cop if it was safe and decided to stay there. It wasn't too cold so it was no big deal without the heat. When we woke up, we discovered we were right in front of a gorgeous beach! We also were in the car park of a really nice spa/gym that had showers. We loved the spot so much we stayed for 2 nights. We snuck into the spa for a shower the first day, but got caught the 2nd and had to pay $3. Our first day in Napier we decided it was time to try to start excercising again and had a nice jog along the beach. We then headed off to a few wineries and did some wine tasting and had a great lunch right on the vineyard. We also walked around the city of Napier. It was a great day. We also realized that it was nothing compared to Miami in the art deco world. There were really only a few neon signs and a few lit up fountains. The next day we went to Marine World. We saw a really neat dolphin and sea lion show and also took a picture holding a tiny penquin. After that we left Napier and headed to Wellington, New Zealand's capital.

We're in Wellington right now. We stayed at a campground right outside the city last night and cooked dinner and had a great bottle of wine from the winery. It was a blend of Gamay Noir. Today we're headed off to a few museums and tonight for "date night" we're going to see a concert, Mattafix, on Wellington's famous Cuba Street.

We're still loving the RV life. We've figured out all of the complicated stuff like emptying the toilet, filling up the water tank and checking the tire pressure. We love not living out of suitcases and driving our house around with us. We're headed to the South Island in a couple of days where the weather REALLY gets cold.

We were both thinking of our friends and family during the New Year. We hope everyone had a nice holiday!

That's all for now. And i'd like everyone to know that we officially have been Mr. and Mrs. Bradley Shapiro for 3 months last Sunday, the 24th!!!!!!