New Zealand; Day 7

One week down, one to go. It's hard to believe we're half way through already, but if the weather keeps up like this we'll be very lucky and very grateful.

No Night Garden on Saturdays, but we still weren't checked out and off on our walk until 10am. At 10.05am Eleanor declared that there was a big poo in her nappy, which was correct, so she had to suffer the indignity of a nappy change in the middle of the park.

Spent a lovely relaxing morning just wandering around Napier and admiring the architecture and retail therapy in almost equal proportions. We ended up down at the seaside, which as you can see wasn't quite what we're used to at home. "All Black" is both the name for a member of NZ's national rugby team and an entirely apt description of the beach. In this photo you can see Eleanor and Daddy making a pebble castle.

Next we went to see Train World, which is a very large upstairs room completely taken up with a number of model train sets, one of which was lovingly constructed in a middle-aged man's bedroom at his mum's place and donated when he suddenly "passed on". More cheerily there was a little ride-on train for the kids, which Eleanor went on twice.

Lunch was sushi and another nappy change back in the same park, before an eventful drive to Taupo that Eleanor slept through. At about the half way mark Bevan commented, "We probably should have filled up with petrol before we left." With 36km still to go the low fuel warning light came on, and it was a nervous wait to see whether the rest of the trip would be as hilly - and fuel chewing - as the first part had been.

Our accommodation here is another Quest apartment, again with a washing machine that's running as I type this. For the next two nights we have two bedrooms upstairs (ours with a view of the lake peeping between two other motels), meaning Bevan and I could actually watch some TV tonight; everywhere else Eleanor's bed has been either a sofa bed or wheel-away right in front of the telly.

We had about a 20 minute walk into town for dinner at an Italian restaurant where the chef can't tell the difference between rigatoni and macaroni, which wouldn't matter except that Eleanor would have eaten mac and cheese with a fork or spoon but decided that fingers were better for a larger pasta. Thank goodness for baby wipes!

We finished up the night with a visit to yet another fantastic kids' playground (in the shadow of a big trout to add to our visit to the big salmon) and promises from Daddy to take Eleanor back there while Mummy is off on her guided heli fly fishing expedition tomorrow. I'm really, really excited about it.