Naked Bussing

Liz kindly dropped me off at the bus station and my Naked Bus was on time. Good job, as it was windy (surely not, in Wellington ;-p? ). There was a lady on the bus who talked almost non-stop to Taupo :-/ and our driver was a bleached blond Maori called Teki.
I was booked for a trip up to Taupo, then a change, then up to Rotorua. The 1st pic is the coastline just NW of Wellington. Very picturesque, but my battery was a bit low so I didn't go bananas taking photos. However, I was peckish and ate a banana, 2 carrots, a kiwi fruit and some chocolate by 1030 :-o

The second pic is when we were alongside the Rangiteki and it shows all the striations in the rock. It's an amazing river.

The next 2 are of the little pointy hills I'd seen on my way down the SH1 last time. I'd love to know why the landscape is like that. There were pointy hills off the World's Forgotten Highway, too. I think I mentioned it?

We had a stop for a brew at "Gumboot Manor", and I took a pic of 1 of
the reasons I use naked buses!

I can't remember how much this trip was costing, but it wasn't much. Loads cheaper than GB, though :-)

A sparrow came in for some crumbs while I was having my brew and chip ('chup' in NZ ;-p ) butty.

The welly with 14 on it was due to a massive one by the roadside just across the road from the cafe.

Hence the name.

Joseph and the Tecnhnicolour Wellington?

 

The next is the high desert ruuning to the east of Ruapehu and Ngaruhoe. It's the same road I went down in 2009, and the one I took from Ohakune to Taupo a few weeks before. It's scrub like this for miles, interspersed with hot mud pools and streams.
We had a pick up at Tauranga and I got a quick pic of me Teki. I'm still ginger at this point, but he doesn't look at all blond!

Shortly after we got to Taupo and changed busses. I had a chat with a bloke who was local to the area, but it wasn't long before we hit the environs of Rotorua and my next couple of night's bed.
It was a bit of a trek to the hostel, but the bloke at the desk was helpful, booked me a Maori thingy & pointed me in the direction of town :-)