Left Wellington in the afternoon to start the tour of North Island.
Drove up Hwy-2 through the middle over two high mountains with lots of turns.

Mt. Bruce Pukaka Wildlife Center--closed at 4:30 so it was too late to go in. 

The road was being resurfaced right before Woodville, and gravel from another car hit and cracked the the windshield.

Hwy-3 back to west coast. Getting late and having driven for 3 hours, time to stop for the night.

WANGANUI TOP 10 HOLIDAY PARK
camp site right on the Whanganui River

3-12:  Wanganui: First thing the next morning went into down. Very pretty tree-lined main street with flowers everywhere.
Window glass place to see about fixing the windshield - $600. They said the windshield would not shatter if we continued to drive so we didn't get it fixed. Will deal with the rental agency since we included windshield insurance.

Durie Hill Lookout for the panoramic views of Mt Ruapehu, Mt Taranaki, and the River