OK! If any Kiwis (New Zealanders) are reading this I have news for you: Canadian bacon IS NOT ham slices cooked in a pan. Canadian bacon is cured pork meat taken from the loin or belly that is then sliced and cooked in a pan. Sounds the same but is very different. Kiwis, please get your facts straight.
With this out of the way, today’s main theme was driving for hours. We headed down from Waitomo to Napier with only a small concession to our comfort: a stop at Taupo for lunch.
We arrived safe and sound after 4 hours of driving at the National Aquarium in Napier to see birds and lizards. The aquarium has a couple of kiwis (the bird, not people) and blue penguins (rescues) as well as tuatara lizard. It’s pretty much all the native fauna they had. We saw a bunch of other fishes but all from elsewhere than the shores of New Zealand.
Tonight was also our first night in a hotel. The contrast with guest houses could not be more marked. The room is bigger, has more amenities but we were not introduced to every part of our room by a gentle host. All we got is a key and a vague indication of where our room was. Not sure which one we prefer.