The saddle ride through Wangunui

Breakfast at the Tuapo McDonald's came with a playtime on board the on site McDonalds airplane and play area.  This was awesome for the kids, and I had a much needed cappuchino.

The return home from Tuapo was a different route, through the "saddle" of the land and then through the riverlands of the Wangunui River. We were hoping it would be less curvy and topsy turvy of a ride, but this was only mildly true. 

The NZ Army builds roads that wind around mountains and curve around obstacles, so the road is constantly shifting in its guidelines of speed, from 100 km/hr to 45 km/hr to 25 km/hr around a sharp turn and then back to 75 km/hr in a five minute time interval.

The roads are more narrow than roads in the USA and one side may even have falling rock from a rock wall.  In short, you want to stay alert and drive slowly.  I did better and felt less queasy on the road if I was driving, so I drove about 4 of the 6 hours home.  The rest of the time I tried to close my eyes and relax around the hairpin turns.

Horse or unicorn crossing ahead!

Horses indeed!

The signs were also amusing.  We saw a kiwi bird crossing sign, and some horse signs, followed by horses.

I bet nighttime drivers need to look out for kiwis, but they were all asleep when we drove past.