This morning, on my daily trip to pick up lattes, one of the people in the queue said “bit chilly this morning, isn’t it”. I looked at him for a moment, hesitated, and then said “we’re visiting from Canada…”. To be fair, it was 15C, so he had a point, but it’s closer to minus 15C at home, so I couldn’t bring myself to say it was anything other than lovely.

We visited Napier on our first New Zealand trip three years ago, and I found a lovely little coffee shop reasonably close to our hotel. I vaguely remembered where it was, and managed to find it again this year. Conveniently, it turned out to be very close to our hotel. It is an outdoor kiosk, with a certain charm that appeals to me.

And the coffee was excellent as well.

We had another leisurely start to the day (notice a pattern yet?) and headed to Rotorua. The drive took us along narrow winding roads through steep valleys. The view was stunning. At least I think it was stunning. Jan was trying hard to ignore the narrow winding roads, and I had my eyes glued to the road in front of me. But based on the glimpses I caught from my peripheral vision, it was impressive.

We stopped for lunch in Taupo and found a lovely little cafe with outdoor seating and delicious avocado toast. It was a lovely sunny day, but in the shade it was almost cool. (Did I really say that out loud???)

After we checked into our hotel we went out to find petrol and groceries … and beer and wine, if I’m being honest. It was four o’clock, and school had just let out – all the kids in school uniforms made that obvious. It was … insane. We won’t try that again. But we survived. I know, I know … you know what hardship is, and this isn’t it!

Then it was time to check out the route to pick up lattes tomorrow morning – we have our priorities. Walking along the rather boring street, I came across this…

I love spending winter in New Zealand!

At the grocery store, Jan spotted my absolute favourite beer. Actually, I don’t really have a favourite beer, I prefer variety. But if I did have a favourite, it would be Theakston’s Old Peculier.

I’m sipping the Old Peculier as I write. When blogging, some days are more enjoyable than others. This is one of the good ones.

We’re heading off to dinner shortly, then tomorrow we are visiting the thermal parks around Rotorua. Stay tuned.