To Wellington with cousin Matt, spending the day being driven all around the hilly, windy, streets of Wellington (and occasionally getting to stop and look at it from one vantage point or another). Overnight at the Plaza Hotel, where Matt had pulled some strings to get us rooms, ones overlooking where part of the city had been blocked off for street motor racing. Dinner at Red Dog in Blair Street.
"Tiki-touring" around the Wairarapa - Martinborough, with its taxidermy museum; the Te Kairanga vineyard, which, like most NZ vineries, has most of its output bulk-bought by Californian shippers; a mushroom farm; and a paua-shell shop at Carterton, selling mainly kitsch decorated with the beautiful turquoise shell. Overnight at Masterton, where we dined at Tellers - good PacRim fusion food, but relaxed service.
During the day, we ran into one of the local traffic jams - a huge flock of sheep being driven slowly along the road.
After breakfast that included grapefruit picked from the garden (definitely showing we were in warmer climes than we are used to) we made the long drive further south, past Wellington, to join up with other cousins, past the Pinnacles - eroded towers of loess, protected by capping boulders - at Ngawihi, to Cape Palliser, where we overnighted at a bach (pronounced as in bachelor) in the little settlement of Mangatoetoe, near the Black Rocks seal colony, and the rock-sheet faced hill called Kupe's Sail. From here we had our only glimpse of the South Island.
A clear night for once, and dark, but no chance to go out and star-gaze due to mosquito density. Through the windows that evening, the Southern Cross is visible, head down, just above the ocean to the south.
Here I am loading the car for the next leg of the journey.
Driving down, through Whangenui (stopping to feed the ducks), finding a local arts-and-crafts complex that included a seller of home-made full cream ice-cream, with cones bearing huge quantities for (to those used to the pernicious effects of the French-inspired CAP) rediculously low prices. Then from the Kapiti coast, to Palmerston North, to see Karen's cousin Karen and family (plus Kelly the labrador and Popcorn the cockatiel).
New Zealand was battered by the largest storm on the planet. 90mm of rain fell. We stayed indoors, and read, being quite chilly as the houses really weren't built for that sort of weather.
First expedition concludes, with a return to New Plymouth, over the gorse moorland and pine forests of the inland plateau, breaking for leg-stretching at the Whakamuna Dam on the Waikato river.
A lazy day, a little walking around and window shopping, much soaking in the hot pools at the Polynesian Spa (leaving the 40C+ pools to the Korean and Japanese tourists), then an Italian dinner at Zanelli's.
Copyright © Steve Gilham, 1977-2007
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
