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Published: November 9th 2007
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It was rather interesting sleeping by the side of the road. I was disturbed by all sorts throughout the night and, upon hearing the refuse truck, was horrified to find that it was only 20 minutes past midnight. It was going to be a long night, made more difficult by the camber wanting to drop me out of bed and the pillow end of the bed pointing downhill! However, sleep came easily and I was up with the lark - literally!
I appeared out of the van at 08h15 and decided to move it into the botanical gardens. The main reason was a two hour parking restriction and I didn’t want to outstay my welcome in that spot. The other reason for moving was that I didn’t have so far to walk for breakfast! So, joining all the other commuters walking through the gardens and into the city, I made my way downhill.
Spoilt for choice, I did the only sensible thing and went for the cheapest, most filling breakfast I could find and then spent the remaining time walking around the city, viewing the harbour, reading the paper and generally, enjoying the sun. Once my two hours was
up, I returned to the van and headed off to Owhiro Bay. It was another glorious day with plenty of blue sky but, being Wellington, there was a bit of a lot of breeze. So, having parked in the old quarry, slapped on a little of the old sun screen and, wearing a jumper, I headed off along the coastal path towards the red rocks.
The red rocks are, well, red rocks. And there’s a few of them amongst all the other white ones. Getting there was fairly easy, I just followed the track, but the wind was doing all it could to stop me just doing that! I met very few people whilst out, just the occasional runner and dog walker and, after 3 hours I returned to the van. In theory, I was going to head up to Foxton and spend the afternoon further up the coast, but the weather was just so perfect that I opted to open the door and sit in the sun for a few hours reading. By now, it was getting towards the middle of the afternoon and my clock was telling me that it was tea time. Pointing the van towards
Oriental Bay, I stopped just before the coupon parking and walked the final mile into the city. Another $7 meal later and a visit to the 24 hour store, I was heading back to the van with a few replenishments (milk and cheese).
Whatever you do, don’t try to leave Wellington in the rush hour! It wasn’t very difficult (I’ve driven through it enough times) but there were some problems with the traffic lights not being synchronised and it took nearly 30 minutes to get from Oriental Bay to the SH1 junction. Last year, I’d done this trip along the Kapiti Coast by train, in winter and had not seen how beautiful it was. This time, in the van, I was heading in the opposite direction and the first few suburbs were, well, as expected really, like suburbs (but prettier). But, once beyond the suburbs, the beauty of the coast and the island came to the fore.
Soon, I was leaving all the commuters behind and it was time to think of a spot to stop for the night. I’d initially earmarked Foxton, but in the end, plumbed for Waitarere Beach, just north of Levin because, it was
off the beaten track and it had a shipwreck on the beach. I arrived whilst it was still light and headed for the car park on the beach, only to be directed straight on to the sand with a notice stating “the beach is the road”. There was no way I was going that way, so I pulled into the car park of coastguard’s tower and, just as I was about to stop, noticed an exit at the far end, which took me to a more secluded car park. Pulling up, I went for a walk on the deserted beach and settled down for the night.
Distance travelled: 170km / 106 miles
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