Friday 22 December 2023
Welcome back. Sandra is opening the batting on this one:
Today was the first of two travel days to get us nearer to Wellington where we are due to spend Christmas and three nights at the same motel. We left Rotorura in good time and, like further north, headed west towards the coast, figuring we might as well use the coastal road and see some sights. Our first night stop was in the town of New Plymouth. We were to learn that this area is in one of the first regions settled by the English in the middle to late 18th Century – we were to encounter many familiar names of places, streets etc. It certainly had an older feel to the buildings etc. than say Rotorura.
Before we left Rotorua we had to juice up the Elantra – again. We’re clocking up the miles – sorry, K’s – and even a modern 2 litre petrol auto likes to sup the juice. We have something in common when it comes to thirstiness. Anyway, Rotorua was one of the cheapest places so far for fuel – their standard unleaded – ‘91’ – coming in at £1.03 per litre with an exchange rate of just over two to one. We’ve paid as much as £1.40 on the main roads when required. A premium unleaded is also generally offered – ‘Premium 95’ – and some garages do a third – ‘Ultimate 98’. Diesel is between 20-30p litre cheaper than petrol everywhere.
Sandra:
We shared the driving as usual and can report, apart from one tiny section, not 5 minutes from our motel for the night, there wasn’t a queue in sight! We drove through volcanic fields – long since grassed over and caldera that are farming settlements. This coast is very rural and predominantly farming of one kind or another. It is also very quiet and there were significant periods of time between seeing other vehicles on the road. This was something I was expecting as people who have travelled or lived here explained this happens a lot.
The empty roads are a delight – I couldn’t help thinking back to my journey up north to pick up Sandra when the M25 was at a standstill. It is mostly a real pleasure to drive here and I’m loving it. Again. Have I mentioned I’ve been before?
Sandra:
We stopped at another Tourist Information Centre in Te Kuiti where we met a lady who was born in Barnstaple, North Devon and family now live in Crediton. She emigrated some 30+ years but goes home each year as her parents are now very elderly. It was lovely to have a chat and I think she was quite happy to chat with fellow Brits too. She gave us some very useful information for later that evening – over to Richard to explain that. Equally, there was a lovely café across the road and the obligatory public loos so we were very happy travelers.
Public loos are plentiful here and without exception – so far at least – they have been clean and tidy.
We pressed on and hitting the coast, looked for somewhere to eat our packed lunches. We passed a beach and as the road was on a bend, we were too late to turn, we drove on for a short while, found more public toilets – tick - and turned round and returned to the beach and the car park. We then ate our lunch watching the sea come and go and marveling at how quiet it was. There were some families but there were miles of empty beach despite that.
Time was marching on and with the promise of a free night of entertainment close to our motel, we pressed on and eventually arrived in New Plymouth. The motel was very pleasant, it appeared full too, the cleanest one we had stayed in thus far. None of the motels have been unpleasant, it is, as Richard has said, more a case of several cans of paint – washers on taps and up-to-date white goods in the main.
We had an early meal in a chain restaurant – Cobb & Co – one I’d picked from Google Maps – and not only was it very good, the server also advised us that ALL their restaurants are nut free – if you exclude the punters. Good to know for people like me with a nut allergy. Good on them. In addition to the human servers there was also a robot one:
That evening the Festival of Light was on in nearby Pukekura Park. Now I could pretend that as a seasoned traveller I’d done some thorough research which led us to New Plymouth. But no, the aforementioned lady in the Tourist Information brought it to our attention and we’re glad she did. A free event that runs for a couple of months and very popular with families. It was busy but not rammed and there was a lovely laid back atmosphere. Sandra’s Kiwi Blue Badge came in handy as we found a space right by the entrance and a very helpful fella in a golf buggy transported us up the hill to the start of the trail. The Kiwis are good at stuff like this.
Friday's journey:
Saturday 23 December 2023
Sandra:
Another good start, although nowhere near as far to travel today. We were heading for Whanganui – a town bridging both sides of the River Whanganui – a major river, think River Severn. It used to have a bustling port and the old port buildings are now home to a thriving art community – that bit, down by the River reminded me somewhat of Totnes in Devon. Again many names from the UK as well.
Google Maps wanted to send us the shortest way of course but we elected to take the coast road - the ‘Surf Highway 45’. Our time was our own and it was well worth it.
Sandra:
We made good progress stopping for coffee at a little café on the main road – it was sad to see that the café, a new looking barista style trailer and a dairy farm were all for sale. Perhaps they wish to retire but it was even quieter roads than above New Plymouth. Nonetheless the coffee and raspberry slice were excellent and off we set again.
There’s a coffee offering here called Long Black, it’s sort of halfway between an Espresso and Americano and it’s my coffee of choice. The name is appropriate too given my usual attire. Thanks Mike for pointing that out! Just the job, I wish places at home would do it.
Sandra:
We reached Patea – well just before and saw a brown tourist sign for lookout post and car park. We were able to park up high which commanded excellent views of the Bight – perusal of Google revealed it to mean wide bay between promontories – certainly the case here. Lunch was eaten and we watched several different types of marine craft come in and out of the small river mouth to our left where there was a motorhome park and slipway. I fact the most common vehicle which had passed us were vehicles towing various boats away from the direction of the slipway.
Lunch consumed we returned to take photos of a typical Māori long canoe monument – I have to say I was very impressed indeed with that.
All the street names here were of English towns, cities, and counties. Interestingly, Cambridge and Oxford were pitched opposite one another!
Sandra:
We only had a short drive left and decided to make our way to the Motel hoping they would be ready for us; we were warmly welcomed and yes indeed our room was ready. A quick unpack of the car and we settled down with a cuppa and then 40 winks, so much input can be tiring, so time to process all we had seen and experienced.
The motel is certainly the most modern one we have stayed in so far. It even has air conditioning – Agodo came good again.
After said 40 winks we had a short drive out and a brown tourist sign just across the river indicated a lookout called Durie Hill – designed as a garden suburb of the town and enabled by the Durie Hill Elevator, which includes a tunnel from the town.
Unfortunately when we arrived there was an altercation going on between a couple of guys, seemingly involving a kid who looked terrified and kept ducking out of the way when one of the guys tried to approach him. We decided to get back in the car and go around the block, observing that a woman was keeping an eye on them from a safe distance and also on the ‘phone. When we returned a few moments later we were not at all surprised to see that the police had arrived and one of the protagonists was swiftly cuffed, the others seem to have run off. All very unpleasant but the police arrived very quickly.
Anyway, I was able to get to the top of the viewing platform for some nice views across the town:
Afterwards we had a pootle through the town before stocking up on food and fuel at what has become our supermarket chain of choice – Pak n Save. Each shop gives 6c off a litre of fuel, though it was considerably more expensive here than Rotorua.
Sandra had spotted an eatery advertising on the back of one of the many leaflets we’ve acquired on our trip and we went to check it out. The menu looked good and whilst they could no longer take bookings, if we returned at 7:00pm the promised to squeeze us in.
Back at the motel first Sandra then I set to with the laptop. My fingers were stiff and clearly needed some lubrication.
The meal at Caroline’sBoat Shed was superb – there was plenty on offer if you wanted to avoid chips but we both opted for burgers that were so filling we didn’t have room for pudding. Almost unheard of, particularly in Sandra’s case, who loves her pud’s but to be fair if there had been cheese and biscuits on offer I would have had to decline.
Saturday's journey:
That’s it for this part. Thank you for taking the time to read our ramblings and we’d like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas from downunder.
Cheers
Rich & Sandra