We said goodbye to our lovely seaside view room, and set off for Napier. Due to a mountain chain (surprise!), we needed to go back south toward Wellington before setting off northward, this time up the eastern side of the Island.
We had a pleasant stop at Carterton (I think I'm remembering correctly), where we stopped for a coffee. I had a look in a gallery called the Red Moa, that had a huge moa made of red wire on the roof - a gift from the brother of the gallery owner. Next door was a coffee shop - its only real signage a "Topolino" Fiat mounted on the roof. When you went indoors, there was a second one over the back of the service area. It was like an old store that had not been remodelled, but with cafe tables in the front window and throughout, and a couple of sofas, and some good coffee. The town had a blues festival on (we didn't hear any, sadly), and flowers planted everywhere. I think the local Business Improvement group was doing a good job.
We are staying in Napier in a place called "Stables Backpackers". The rooms all have a horse's head painted on the door, as if they are stalls, and have small double doors leading out to the front porch or the interior courtyard. We discovered (from an ad for horseback rides), that the owner keeps horses. The room is small, and has a double bunk one one side, single above, and two bunks on the other side. We have it to ourselves, but it can obviously do multiple service.
We went to an Indonesian restaurant for dinner, and had the "richtstaffel" (I'll fix the spelling later") or "rice table" - essentially a sampler of many dishes. It was delicious. We had a kind of cake for dessert that was grilled in layers, with various spices - an Indonesian specialty. It smelled amazing, with all the spices, even before you tasted it.
We had a walk up and down the beach front to settle the dinner in, and then did the prosaic laundry. We will do an 'art deco' tour tomorrow, which is what the area is famous for.
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