Today we were going to go and do volcanoes in the national park but we decided the girls needed a day that was more for them, so we headed for the coast in the hope of finding suitable things for them. For us the wineries would have been an option but we felt not for the girls. We pretty much failed in this mission but we had a good explore of Napier, Art Deco twon. I am unconvinced this was in the end the right move but when we reached here we had no inclination to drive the 164km back to Taupo.

Napier itself is all art deco, brought about by the towns destruction in an earthquake in the 1920s. We walked along a seafront which reminded me a lot of seaside resorts at home. It had a gravel beach, wind, clouds and a sea too dangerous to swim in due to rip tides. In fact I am sure it could have been Southport.

The drive took a couple of hours through yet more amazing scenery. This time of amazing greenness. The forestry here feels more like a forest than the almost jungle feeling of Northland. At time you forgot how far you had climbed on the drive until you rounded a bend and saw the countryside laid out before you. I continue to be amazed at how the HGV drivers manage to negotiate such winding roads in such large vehicles. On the road thing we are frequently amazed by the railway crossings, they sometimes have barriers but sometimes not and not infrequently they can be found at road junctions or roundabouts where you have to sit on the line to get across.

When we arrived we parked up and I made some lunch, one of the advantages of the van is you can make a fresh sandwich and eat it somewhere warm, dry and comfortable.

Napier itself was defiantly art deco in design and had some interesting photo boards portraying its formation. Not being wildly into Art Deco I was not blown away but I can see how if you are, you would be. In any case we had a nice wander, bought a replacement rucksack and had a good cup of coffee.

We then moved onto our campsite for the night which is frankly perfect for the kids. An inflatable pillow to jump on, climbing, sliding and swinging for all sizes. The girls played for a couple of hours with David's supervision while I cooked sausage casserole for dinner. This was the best deal as he got weed on - twice.

After dinner the girls both had showers with different levels of moaning. Alex was a quiet wimper and then she got on with it whereas Elizabeth was a full throttled roar and complain.

Tomorrow is the long drive to Wellington.