Day 5 - Fri 21 Nov

Beautiful sunny day - great night's sleep and fairly late start!
9.15am quick drive around Napier and take some photos then push on down to Wellington. Eventually left the motel after a long chat with the owners - Pauline and John O'Donnell. Nice peeps.

After a quick blast around Napier for pics, a bottle carrier for the bike and sunblock, got on the road. Lots of flatland all about - straight roads - what's that all about? Into Dannevirke, land looked flat but pretty hidden valleys - great for picnics. Can see the Ruahine Range on our right.
Stopped at Annie's for Bacon & Egg pie and bowls of latte - $18. Novel customer loos - through the kitchen and past the laundry! Girls all lovely though!
Dannevirke a viking town - those longships were good to get this far.

Passed through Woodville - wind farm capital of NZ - loads of them on the hills. Meeting at 2
mountain ranges. "Tui" land. Went past the brewery.....
Seen more bikers today than the rest of the trip so far put together. NZ bikers are a woosy lot!!
Only come out in the sun - but still friendly, all wave.

Someone stole the Eiffel Tower and put it on the end of the Ruahine Range!
Saw where we stopped last time because of the heavy rain - rain drops were actually hurting my legs through wets, leathers and thermals! - but saw it too late to stop for a cig break. Stopped soon after for a break - short of Masterton.

Nice curves on the roads here - bit straight and boring down to Woodville.

Coffee stop at Salute in Greytown. Looks lovely in the sunshine, very different to last time in the rain.
Looking forward to the Rimutaka - but could be a bit tame to us now!! Easy-peasy! Don't know what Jayne is worried about.

1hr or so communing with the elves at Kaitoke national park, where the set for Rivendell was during filming for the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Onward down the Hutt Valley to Wellington. Not sure that it was the same place as last year - the sun was shining! Arrived at the Streatfield's for Pimms before dinner. Great to see them again! Had our first antipodean BBQ, lots of drink and a lovely warm house.

Mileage today - 350km (217 miles)
Mileage total - 1772km (1101 miles)