Across to Rotarua

There were some hold ups on the way across. When we finally got to go, there were cars trucks and camper vans backed up for a couple of miles.

The scenery was pretty, though it was windy and up and down, there was even a short tunnel to go through.

We stopped to have lunch at Piopio. It was a small community that rallied around to keep their town viable after the banks closed the branches there.

They put in the giant easles and invited businesses such as a vet and others to come and set up shop there.

This was a cache just out the road near toilets and apparently where drivers change over. Cache was called the Giant Count. It was an electrical box, took us a couple of minutes to realise that the lines didnt go anywhere, then we had to work out how to get into it (a magnetic key slide underneath with key inside).

This large bush was on the side of the road, not sure if it was a roadside plant or in someones yard, very pretty.