Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Happiness Is The Road
The day started well with a grapefruit that wasn't a tangelo! This proper red grapefruit was found lurking amongst the NZ grapefruits (tangelos) in New World. It's little Australian sticker had given me hope that it was going to be red inside. I was happy as can be when I found out that it was! After brekky we hit the road out of Napier heading south towards Wellington and our passage off the crazy North Island. We were accompanied by the usual aggressive drivers who make driving in this country such a horrible experience. With some exceptions It seems to me that the Kiwis don't very much like visitors to their country. If it wasn't for tourism though and the revenue it generates a lot of them would be out of work. We really hope that our South Island experience is going to be better than the north. We were in wine country leaving Napier and we drove past row upon row of vines stretching into the distance as we headed south. We followed the main highway for quite a while passing signs on the way for the city of Palmerston North. We took the advice of John Cleese and didn't go there. He wasn't very impressed when he visited on a tour and scoffed 'If you ever want to kill yourself, but lack the courage, I think a visit to Palmerston North will do the trick'!!! The town were upset and named the local refuse tip after him. There are some strange and miserable places in New Zealand such as Masterton that we started to pass through before turning off the main highway and heading towards the coast. With the towns around here being scary and the people being scary looking too we might have to resurrect our 'MSO' game that we started playing in Tasmania! There really are a lot of people here who look like they want to kill you. The road from Masterton was really quiet and after driving around loads of twists and turns we arrived at Castlepoint on the coast. It was a windswept place with a big beach and a lighthouse on the headland. We really hoped that the camp site would be good and luckily it was. It was right on the beach, was very quiet, and we got a lovely spot overlooking the crashing surf. We spent the rest of the day chilling out and watching the waves crash to the shore. We drifted off to sleep to the soothing sound of the sea.
- comments