Rotorua to Napier

We were on our own for breakfast so Gavin cooked us an enormous tasty omelette for breakfast!
we managed to find our way out from the Lodge frist time and headed off south at around 09:45 on SH5.
After a sunny start, it began to rain as we drove past the Wai-o-Tapu thermal site we had visited yesterday, so we were pleased we had seen the geyser in the dry!  the roads were reasonable straight and wide with rolling countryside.
We stopped at Huka falls, as recommended in our itinerary, just north of Taupo, to view the falls.

They were more like rapids that falls, but still impressive.
We stopped off at Taupo at around midday for a coffee, but the effects of our breakfats were still with us, so no cakes!
Alison then took over the driving for the more exciting mountain drive (plus roadworks) to Napier. we missed the Waipunga falls, as they were just signposted as "Lookout" and by the time we saw it we hadn't looked out.
Arriving early, we parked up at Ahuriri village (the Maori name for Napier) and managed our first picture of a bus with bike rack (Margaret please note).

more Art Deco pictures of Napier will follow tomorrow!
We found our accommodation, again first time, following the excellent instructions and maps and are now looking forward to our evening meal at Mission Estate (Phillip our host has kindly agreed to take us there and we will taxi back, so that we can enjoy our wine).
The meal could only be described as memorably excellent, on arrival we were greeted by name and invited to sample the cocktail bar - we chose one clean and one dirty dry martini cocktail. Alison had carrot and coconut soup, followed by rare lamb, whilst Peter had a cured salmon starter followed by cheek and loin of pork on a bed of Pak choi and asian vegetables.  For dessert we had a tiramisu and a chocolate fondant.  On our return we were unable to face the complimentary glass of port and chocolates that had been left in our room by our hosts!