Happy 2012!

Another long weekend to ring in the New Year and of course we had to go away. This is time we visited the Art Deco Capital; Napier.

In the true spirit of New Year, we didn't go it alone, but with some friends Jamie and Anna. Other friends were also planning on coming along, but had some last minute cat sitting issues, leaving just the four of us!

In contrast to last weekend's fab weather, it pissed it down all weekend and felt just like home!

Our activities were somewhat limited by the weather and being away with Kiwi's, they didn't want to indulge in some of the more touristy attractions. We filled our New Years Eve with a battle through the rain for a battle at 'Laser Force', and much to Ro's disgust, a round of mini golf. One might make the comparison to the choice of activities on a typical rainy day in Sussex!

With evening fast approaching, panic set in, as there had previously been no consideration of what might constitute sociable camping shelter, in what is well known to be the sunniest area of New Zealand. A length of good quality string and some bargain camouflage tarpaulin is all that was required, alongside a little positive thinking and ingenuity.

This resulted in the rest of the trip being spent under the tarp, with booze, BBQ and some cranium to keep us entertained! The rain thankfully held off for the countdown, so we headed to the beach for a few hours to watch Napier's fireworks and paddle (Tim however was disallowed paddling due to his drunken desire to swim!).

As we departed the campsite on Monday, the sun finally came out, which was a sign of things to come! We decided to take the scenic 500km route home which meant we'd get to visit a massive 5 waterfalls, however thanks to a disastrous new map and map reading to match, we managed to bypass all except one.

The lake view restaurant where we decided to eat lunch was closed and happened to be the last decent option for the remainder of the journey home. To top it all off, the Space Wagon is starting to struggle to make 2nd gear, so we think the gearbox maybe fecked. Major boo made worse by coming home to find that some fool had left the freezer door open L

Saying all that, great weekend, just perhaps not the happiest of endings…made better though by firing up the BBQ in true Kiwi Style J