Day 156,
Woke up, took some showers and packed the car. We had a nice little breakfast then headed down to the National Aquarium.

It was a really cool building located right on the waterfront. The Aquarium had all kinds of nice exhibits about prehistoric fish...

tropical fish...

upside down fish...

animated Andrea fish...

invasive fish...

and New Zealand fish...

Oh wait, that's not a fish, but the aquarium did have a lot of information about the fish and aquatic life of New Zealand. It also had a bunch of exhibits about other wildlife and the nature of New Zealand. We even got to see a real live Kiwi!!! The room was real dark, because they are nocturnal, so we didn't get any good photos, but it was awesome to see a live one. They are an incredible animal with their big bodies, short legs and super long beeks.
They had a cool walk/ride (moving walkway) through a very large tank.

They also had great lunch options...

Well, they wouldn't let me eat the crayfish (rock lobster), but it was nice to be up close and personal with the lobster. Overall the National Aquarium was awesome, a very cool destination in Napier.
After our visit to the aquarium we headed to the Silky Oak Chocolate factory for a chocolate overload. We learned a little more about the history of chocolate (with a few free samples), then headed into the cafe for a chocolate snack and a coffee, then we headed into the gift shop for a few more free samples (I thought I was going to die of a chocolate overdose).
We had a little snack (not chocolate) then headed over to the Church Road Winery for a little tasting. The Chardonnay was awesome so we had to buy a bottle.

From the Church Road Winery we headed up to the Mission Estate Winery.

We tasted a few wines there and checked out the cool old estate. Another New Zealand must-do completed (wine tasting in the Hawke's Bay region).
With the wine tasting complete we headed back into town to grab some late lunch and work our way Northwest toward Taupo. Along the way we saw a small sign for a waterfall, so we decided to stop.

WOW! We were so glad we stopped. The waterfall was amazing and no one else was at the viewpoint. What a cool find.
We arrived in Taupo as the sun was setting over the lake.

It was a beautiful sun set so we took a couple of pictures before heading to our hostel. Once we reached our hostel we made some dinner, did a little work on the computer and watched some TV before heading to bed.
Day 157
Woke up early for another big day in NZ. Fly fishing in the famous Taupo region! We packed up our stuff and started the car to warm it up (-5 C this morning).

On our way to meet our guide we stopped for a coffee. We meet our guide, put on some waders then loaded up and headed down to the river. Along the way we picked up a license.

We made it to the Waimarino river and started fishing. It didn't take too long before I had this baby...

It was a beautiful Steelhead (rainbow trout). Our guide Shane said they came from Canada. Andrea caught one at about the same time as I did.
We fished and caught more incredible Steelheads.

This is Andrea pulling in her second fish.

The scenery was beautiful, but cold.

Shane said this is the coldest day he has had in 5+ years of guiding.

Andrea caught one more huge rainbow! The largest fish of the day. Look at that smile on her face.

After fishing up river for a few hours we headed back towards the car.

What a beautiful cool, crisp, clear day.

Andrea took some beautiful pictures along the way.


We got back to the car then headed downstream to fish one last hole.

We had an awesome time fishing the Waimarino. Andrea won the fishing contest catching 3 steelheads to my 2 and catching the biggest one.
After an awesome morning fishing we headed back toward town stopping along the way to take a few pictures.

Back in town we stopped by the McDonald's to get a picture of their gimmick...

and grab a snack and some coffee. We had some lunch by the lake before heading Northeast toward Whakatane.
On our way we saw a small glass blowing shop and decided to stop. The glass work was amazing.

While at the shop we got to watch one of the artists do some work.

After our stop at the glass blowing shop we finished our journey to Whakatane. We checked in our hotel (not hostel!) and then headed out into town to look around a little. We (Andrea) took some beautiful pictures of the awesome sunset.

When we got back to our incredible room we made some dinner then sat in the jacuzzi tub for awhile. We watched a little TV before heading to sleep. Another day and another NZ must-do completed (fly fishing around Lake Taupo)!