Tag 145 - mountainous

22.09.19

- Alex

We wake up at the campsite and treat ourselves to a 30-minute shower after breakfast - the best we've ever had. And by 'ever' I mean not just during the trip but 'ever, in our lives'.

We plan our further route a little and spontaneously decide to make a change to our plans. Instead of driving to the east coast, we will now (again) drive through the center of the island towards the northwest. After visiting a local vegetable stand (all directly from the farmers), we zoom back a little bit of yesterday's route and then turn north. The route is beautiful and we make several smaller stops at various picnic spots with great views.

In the next town, we stop at McDonald's, get some ice cream there, and then drive to the parking lot of a short hiking trail that leads through the nature reserve of the small town.

After the enjoyable walk, we continue to our next overnight parking spot. It is a parking lot of a military museum which is located at the foot of the mountain range that we passed by a few weeks ago, but unfortunately had bad luck with the weather and could not see the snow-covered peaks. However, today is different; the sky is cloudless and clear, and half an hour before arrival we catch a glimpse of the top of 'Ruapehus' (highest mountain of the North Island).

When we arrive at the parking lot, we decide to drive around for a while and look for a suitable photo spot - unfortunately without success; either there are trees or power lines in the picture that somewhat spoil the impressive panorama.

So we drive back to the museum and start the evening ritual of cooking, listening to podcasts, and watching series. The parking lot attendant comes by, notes down our license plate (to ensure that you only stay one night at this location and have the 'self-sustaining' certificate, i.e. sink and toilet on board) and we have a short, very friendly chat. The night falls and we crawl into bed.

- Alex