Adventures in the East

With Carey safe in his flat Walter and I set off for our adventure. I had originally planned to ride with him until I got a job but that has been a harder prospect than I originally expected. I am still looking but have relaxed the search a bit since I am enjoying driving around and Walter will be here until the 20th of December so I may as well take advantage of the car and someone to split traveling costs with.
On our first night away from Wellington we decided to stay in the town of Napier. The town prides itself on being an Art Deco capital of the world and has the kitschy postcards to try and prove it. As a fan of Art Deco architecture I was excited and supremely disappointed. Walter and I just looked at each other with the same thought: Thats it??!?!
If I didn't see the whole Manhattan skyline on my commute every day I might have appreciated it more. Luckily the town did have a redeeming feature; the Napier Prison Backpackers Hostel. A few years ago a dilapidated prison that had closed in 1992 was turned into a Hostel. For the price of $30 NZ a head Walter and I checked ourselves into our very own prison cell. All of the rooms had door chains since of course the locks were on the outside. The facility was run by a couple that was just a little "off." It may be that they chose to live year round in a prison but I was a little bit uncomfortable when I met eyes with them. Also staying in the Hostel were a group of International University students from a school about 2 hours south of the town. After the long walk back from the supermarket with 24 packs of beer on our shoulders the international drinking games commenced. I don't know exactly how it went down but my guess is that the owner of the Hostel went in their room in the morning and saw the mattresses on the floor and beer bottles all over the place and promptly threw them out of the place right there (they were planning on staying another night.) All I know is that they weren't there when we woke up and the owner asked us if we were bothered by the noise the night before. We told him we didn't hear a thing and quietly gathered our things and moved on.
From then on we stayed at campsites every night. We made our way all the way to the easternmost point of New Zealand and were some of the very first people in the world to see the Sun on December 4th.
I have had the privilege of camping on the beach most of these nights. I simply love the sound of the waves as I go to sleep and a swim in the ocean first thing. We stayed at Hot Water Beach (despite posted signs) and took advantage of the boiling hot springs to spend the next morning lounging in our own natural hot tub just a few dozen feet from the waves.
From the East Cape we headed up the Coromandel Peninsula to spend a couple of nights. We are next going to head up above Auckland before we swing back south for our Skydiving adventure in Taupo.