Feb 14, 2026 Happy Valentine’s Day
We headed for the ferry after our wonderful continental breakfast provided by the B&B and eventually settled into the plush recliners for the 3.5 hour journey across Cook Strait. 
This is our fourth trip across the Strait and by far the roughest, though not very rough compared to what it can be! The rolling lulled us to sleep for most of the trip, but the occasional loud bangs would wake us up! We had a long drive after we disembarked the ferry, ending our day in the tiny town of Mangakino north of Lake Taupo and a little more than halfway up the North Island.
We had a beautiful sunset after a day of intermittent rain, sometimes very heavy, as we headed to our B&B mere blocks from the Mangakino Club where we had dinner.