March was semi-busy with the lead up to opening of Gasping! my first show in New Zealand. Met a lot of fantastic people and had a grand time running around pretending to be someone else for the first time in over a year. I also had a short temp job in there and was focusing on preparing for a graduate school audition. My Mom and my Aunt came over to visit, and I had a great time showing off this incredible country to them. I sent them off on their own adventure on the South Island (only because I had to stay to do the show, I was really jealous of their road trip - they got to see some things I haven't, yet!), then when they came back, after the show closed we took a road trip up the North Island.
We actually picked up the rental car the day before we set out (I had made the reservations before some plans were finalized), so in the afternoon, after strike for the show we took a drive out past Owhiro Bay and walked along the beach.
Here's Mom (on the left) and my Aunt. You may note that I come by my propensity to make goofy faces in photos genetically.
It was a lovely, if windy, fall day. I had managed to get a cold during the last week of the show, so I wasn't taking as many photos as usual. Still, quite, quite lovely. It's a little browner and drier than usual, as Wellington had one of the longest, hottest, driest summers in recent memory.
It was a little hazy, but you can just see the South Island off in the distance.
Note the wind coming off the breakers. And this isn't even bad, judging by what the locals have told me.
The next morning we got up early and headed for Napier via the Wairarapa Valley. I was driving for this bit, and had tremendous fun tearing through the mountain pass. I remembered somewhat belatedly that my Aunt is not that fond of heights. Fortunately, she is the forgiving type.
Our first destination for the day was Napier. Napier was destroyed by an earthquake in 1931, and the entire town was rebuilt in the Art Deco style. It's absolutely gorgeous. There are also a lot of neat art installations.
There is a photo on my Mom's camera of me high-fiving the lady below. Because I am twelve.
It was a little bit like being on a movie set. Everywhere you look there's another fabulous building. I eventually gave up taking pictures and just sort of gawked.
We stopped at the Wine Centre on recommendation from my Dunedin friends, but sadly, didn't have time to do the full tasting flights available - I very much want to come back some day for that! We did sample some wine from a small place called Tironui that was absolutely divine and bought a bottle for our travels. The interior of the building was gorgeous. Somehow, I neglected to get a picture of the outside.
We'd initially planned to stay in Napier for the night, but had foolishly left travel bookings for the last minute. Not a good plan over Easter weekend. We continued on, past Lake Taupo, the largest lake in New Zealand.
The Waikato River flows out of Taupo to the Pacific and creates Huka Falls along the way. Not a particularly astonishing drop, but some stunning volume - the river narrows from about 100 meters across to just 15.
We stopped off at a little roadside cafe that had the most fantastic collection of non-native birds.
(And a pretty awesome suit of armor in the corner.)
We spent the night in Hamilton, which has a charming downtown. That night, we went out to watch the lunar eclipse, and I saw a shooting star. It reminded me of all the times Mom woke my brother and I up to go out to see meteor showers and eclipses when we were growing up.
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