East and Southward...

After our mega-treck through the dramatic volcanic landscape we decided to head east toward Hawke Bay before continuing south toward Wellington. There were still a couple of exciting things we wanted to do around Tongarirro but they could wait till we came back in April....

So jumping into our super-van we climbed the mountains and descended valleys through one of the most windy roads we'd ever seen. Camping over night in a great campsite we had the feeling of being in outer Alaska.

Efter vår mega-treck genom det dramatiska vulkaniska landskapet bestämde vi oss för att åka österut mot Hawke Bay innan vi fortsätter söderut mot Wellington. Det fanns fortfarande ett par spännande saker vi ville göra runt Tongarirro men de kunde vänta tills vi kom tillbaka i april ....

 Så hoppa in i vår super-van vi klättrade i bergen och härstammar dalar genom en av de mest blåsiga vägarna vi någonsin sett. Camping över natten i en stor campingplats vi hade känslan av att vara i yttre Alaska.

Before leaving tongarrio, we found a store selliong EVERYTHING. first thing i saw was this super-duper solar shower from the 70's, but they also supplied the small town with the people's daily needs of other camping gear, skateboards, surf shorts, harmonicas, crystal glasses and ball gowns among other nececisties...

bus driver eva, on the raod again...

Taking a dip in the mighty lake at our 'alaska-like' stopover in the mountains....

Then onward the next day to Napier, the art deco town destroyed in the 30's by a big quake only to be rebuilt in art deco style. Sunshine met us for the first day and we spent the evening at a live music night with local bands showing us what they had.

Sedan vidare nästa dag till Napier, förstörde art deco staden på 30-talet av en stor jordbävning bara byggas i art deco stil. Sunshine mötte oss för första dagen och vi tillbringade kvällen på ett levande musik natt med lokala band som visar oss vad de hade.

Eva got a present from me in Napier...super tasty and super beutiful beer....

Live music with this guy 'music dog'. real good authentic country. I'm sure the guy has uncle jack with his cornflakes in the mornings...

 

Poster of the year!!!

The next day we travelled south to Ocean Beach were, thanks to the kind hospitality of the local life-saver's club, we slept in a paddock for 2 nights and enjoyed the wild beach.

Nästa dag åkte vi söderut till Ocean Beach var tack vare gästfrihet av lokala livet-sparare klubb, sov vi i en paddock för 2 nätter och njöt av vilda stranden.

Ocean beach, south of Napier...

and some guitar at sunset while eva makes kumara soup....

stopping of near Havelock to pick strawberries.. 

And on our way south we stopped off at Norsewood, just cause it had a good name. Turned out to be a little village originally settled by scandinavians. Now the whole village is built around tourists coming to see a little scandi-village in NZ. Big troll theme all over...this foto was taken at 'Johanna's World' which looked like a little norwegian farmstead...

At the local brewary 'Tui'. Lokked around, took a beer, made some giant fridge poetry..

Eva and her Tui...

pink cows..

And before we got to Wellington, we stopped of at a place marked on the map as Rivendell from lord of the rings. Great camping there and super nice locals who fed us from their enormous barbecue...hmmmmm, meat, pie, corn bread. And Eva is standing in the spot where some elf (possibly Logolas) has a scene in lord of the rings....we don't know what scene though...evesdropping on a guided tour....

this is helm's deep from lord of the rings..recognise it??

Up the next day and to Wellington. Great city, completely different architecture from the rest of NZ, and some crazy wind!!! We spent the first night in a parking behind a bar 'Fidel's' in the center of town. They let park up there for the night so we could hang out, drink red wine and snack on nachos and squid rings. hmmmm....

Upp nästa dag och i Wellington. Stora staden, helt annorlunda arkitektur från resten av NZ, och några galna vinden! Vi tillbringade första natten på en parkeringsplats bakom en bar "Fidel s" i centrum av staden. De låter park där uppe under natten så vi kunde umgås, dricka rött vin och mellanmål på nachos och bläckfisk ringar. Hmmmm ....

you can see how we liked Fidel's

Eva and a moa...

Wellington. We lived just down there...

see you on south island!!!
ses pa sydon!!!!