Although just a little over 17 km one way, we decided on this scenic route rather than taking the more travelled and busy Hwy 16.

The back roads were lovely calm and heard many different types of birds and sheep.

We even came upon a movie set near Taupaki where they had traffic stopped in both directions to do a "shoot"


Here is a map of our route. You can see that if we had gone via hwy 16 we could have been there in half the time. Seeing the countryside and keeping our wits was also an important part of the experience.



We made it to Westgate shopping mall to the Torpedo 7 outdoor shop. Think of it as kind of a Mountain Equipment co-op, New Zealand style.

There were many "round abouts" which we haven't really got the hang of yet. Going clockwise (to the left) is still a bit un nerving so we usually make a dash for it to cross the street before or after the knot of traffic in the circle.