It’s been a wee while since we’ve both had a break, so we were really looking forward to heading down toward Masterton and Martinborough for a couple of weeks away.

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We hit the motorway in perfect weather, with hardly any traffic thanks to the school holidays, a nice bonus!

Our first stop was Cambridge for fuel, and then we headed into the town centre for lunch. It was absolutely buzzing with people everywhere, very busy!

Back on the motorway heading south, we’d originally thought about stopping in Taupō, but with the school holidays and the V8 car races in town, we figured it was best to avoid the traffic chaos and carried on to Turangi.

After stopping briefly in the Turangi township at one of our favourite coffee spots, we headed off to the NZMCA campground.

Turangi’s NZMCA camp is fantastic and even better now that they’ve got a dump station. The weather was stunning, though there were hints of bad weather brewing. Still, we had a great night there.

Next morning, we hit the road again, heading south via the Desert Road. It’s the first time in ages that I’ve seen the mountains so clearly and with no snow! We had to pull over and soak it in.

Lunch was at the Waiouru Army Museum, such a great spot. There’s good parking out the back for motorhomes too, which made it an easy and relaxing stop.