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Good to wake up to just the sound of the waves and not rain! Still getting used to our temporary little home, we tried sleeping in the bed above the cabin last night and proved quite comfy.
Thoroughly enjoyed a much needed walk along Fitzroy Beach to East End beach - all black volcanic sand with an incredible amount of debris of tree trunks and branches..
Left our delightful holiday park (best of two so far lol) ...into vibrant township of New Plymouth. Grabbed some more groceries (love the different local delicacies you find when shopping away from home... Like live mussels!) before heading out of town. Followed the advice of the park owner's son and took the coastal road through various little seaside towns to Opunake. Scenery was great with coastline visible on one side, through rolling green farmland plus the view of Mt Taranaki on our other side . So fortunate shards of sunlight had protruded through the quite eerie cloud formations providing glimpses of a majestic peak splattered with snow. We decided to risk the weather and detour into Mt Egmont National Park to Dawson's Falls as had been recommended. The 6km narrow windy road was an experience in itself with the lush rainforest like terrain canopied across the roadway. Unfortunately the rain had resumed quite intensely to the extent that after some lunch in the carpark area and scrutinising the situation it seemed totally impractical to attempt the trek to the Falls. We were disappointed but resumed our journey stopping in the township of Stratford (yes, named after its English counterpart ...) with streets named after various Shakespearean characters. We had a wander along the interesting Main Street well know for its Tudor style glockenspiel .
Continued towards coast through towns of Eltham, Normanby and Hawera then followed coast to
Wanganui.
Scenery still lush and undulating - obvious dairy country as we spotted cows trudging to be milked along tracks that often included tunnels under the highway across to a dairy.
Often reminiscent of English countryside with prevalent hedges at precarious angles on hillsides instead of fencing. And the frequent pine plantation areas - all very picturesque
We chose a holiday park in the seaside area of Castlecliff on the outskirts of
Whanganui . Pleasant surroundings and park - but we were anxious for some refreshment and headed off to the local pub (interesting to say the least) then to the Castlecliff Club....on a Monday evening we were basically the only patrons hence we were provided with ample information and advice for the next legs of our trip. Back to our holiday park, after picking up some take away dinner, well and truly ready for another glass of wine.
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Megan Amazing photo!!