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After the dangerous pools we headed for safer pastures- a long but beautiful drive across the island to New Plymouth to see Karen, Stephen and family at their holiday retreat in New Plymouth.
The journey took us on a route beside a river gorge- this was breathtakingly beautiful and at times terrifying to drive. Imagine driving down a major road in England which suddenly changes width so that only one vehicle can get through at a time or meet a"wash out" which means that the road was recently washed away and is in the middle of being repaired- dirt track with no visibility because of the dust generated by the vehicle in front. The "highlight" was approaching an overhang in the hillside where the road became one way with no visibility around the corner and a vertical drop to the gorge below. Any way we got there somehow.
Finding Karen's house was challenging- despite continuous communication by cell ( mobile phone to the folks back home) we managed to miss them completely. At one point we pulled into a driveway and I wandered around knocking on doors and generally making my self at home- we told Karen by phone that we were there as for some reason she was not answering the door- she seemed surprised-wrong house,time for hasty retreat..... In the end Karen and her daughter took the drastic steps of standing in the middle of the road with arms extended- we managed to see them just before committing them both to an early grave!
We were made very welcome by everyone, as you would expect. The following day we visited the beach and then had a meal in a beautiful park in the middle of town. Hannah and Kerry tramped us through the bush back to their house ( walked through the park, to English people).After an all too short stay we headed reluctantly south for Wellington stopping at Wanganui for coffee on the way- it was 5.30 on a Saturday afternoon but was so quiet we thought that there had been a mass evacuation or an alien abduction. Thanks to Karen's excellent instructions we found Auntie Meg's house in Wellington with only a temporary break down in maritial harmony.( She was not there as she had headed for a holiday cottage at Lake Taupo after the wedding with other family members.)
We had been told that Wellington was a great place to live in but might not immediately appeal to visitors. We loved the place and it had so much more to offer than we ever thought it would.We only had a day there so we did the touristy things. We took the cable car to the Botanical Gardens which gave a fantastic view over the city.Then we took the city tour bus, which proved to be the best city tour that we had ever done.A very informative driver and frequent photo stops. The architecture is a mix of the old and the new. The Parliament buildings are called "The Beehive",not just because if their look, but because they contain a lot of people dashing around to no great purpose!(if any New Zealanders read this-the driver told us this joke and please let us come back to your country!). We saw fantastic churches , that blended the old with the new and a wonderfully preserved old church-a mixture of gothic and wood. We drove to the top of Mt. Victoria for a stunning 360 view of the city and the harbour. Then we followed the coastline -this must rank amongst the most beautiful of any major city in the world. The main central area of the city was compact and cosy. It was full of culture-art galleries,museums,music... we could have done with much longer to explore ( how many times have we said this!)
The following morning we headed for the ferry terminal. A chaotic place- too many travellers,too little space and too few staff! The crossing to South Island went smoothly- the Cook Straits have a reputation for being amongst the most stormy in the world ( we have been told a few horror stories by fellow travellers who have made previous journeys) The journey up Marlborough Sound to the ferry terminal at Picton must be the most scenic ferry journey in the world ( or may be it is the relief of no longer being in the Cook Straits!) .We arrived safely at Picton and picked up our new car before heading for Nelson..........
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