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On Sunday, we left Wanganui and drove to
Palmerston North where we bought some extreme weather Gore-tex jackets in the Kathmandu sale (which are cool as), enjoyed the quirkiness of the town and then headed southwards to the
Kapiti Coast. We stopped at
Otaki Beach for some stunning views of
Kapiti Island and looking back from the beach, the snow-capped mountains of the Tararua Range (which was sweet as). That evening Tim received a call from his old IT team (plus Kelly who is fast becoming an honorary IT team member) back in Liverpool, who had spent the whole night (UK time) celebrating the fact that he was no longer in the country and at 6.30am (UK time) just wanted to check he was indeed 'down under' and that there was no risk that he would stroll into the office at any time in the near future, clutching a stress ball in the shape of a can of tuna and muttering insanely about Italians with interesting hairstyles...great to hear from you guys!
We were staying in the coastal town of
Paekakariki (with a view over the Cook Strait to South Island from our bedroom which is cool as), about 50mins
Palmerston North
Clock tower in the Squarenorth of
Wellington for five days, in order to talk to a few recruitment agents, look at the job and real estate markets and generally get a good view of the city and it's surrounding area. At the moment we are still aiming to settle in Christchurch, but Wellington is a definite second option should the right circumstances arise. We took the train on Monday into the city which was quick, easy and reasonably cheap. The train stops near the top of Lambton Quay (near the Parliament buildings). Quite coincidentally we realised that we were in Wellington exactly 3 years to the day since we last visited the city. In 2005 we were travelling around NZ at the same time of year, but then we travelled South to North. This time, as we are travelling North to South we had finally reached a temporal and geographical cross-over point. From the station, we walked into town where Emma tried a quite unique 'green tea latte' at Starbucks, was warned by the staff that if she didn't like it she could exchange it for a more conventional drink, took two sips, remarked that it tasted like spinach and smelled like fish and
then promptly exchanged it for a more conventional drink...After talking to an IT agency and popping into a book shop to buy a copy of the "2008 NZ Road Code" (we've got to study for our NZ theory tests in order to get a NZ driving licence) we wandered over to the National Museum (Te Papa) and took in a couple of new exhibitions there. Afterwards we had a beer in the Mac's brewery pub and then walked up past Courtenay Place and had dinner in a "Contemporary Indian" on Cuba Street (which was tasty as). On the train on the way back we took advantage of the 3G network coverage and played with video calling on our mobiles (we can video call each other for free!). That was cool as.
On Tuesday, the wind had dropped, the sun was out and the sea was still and the view over to the Malborough Sounds on South Island was sweet as. We drove out to the east of Wellington, over to
Upper Hutt and
Lower Hutt (past the LOTR's quarry where they built "Helm's Deep") in the
Hutt Valley and then down to the bays in
Eastbourne. Next we drove
Kapiti Island
From Otaki beach westwards through
Petone, Wellington's CBD and then around
Oriental Bay. We followed the coast from
Seatoun to
Lyall Bay taking in the breathtaking views from
Breaker Bay over to some of the snow-capped mountains of South Island. Next we followed the Happy Valley Road up through
Brooklyn and
Aro Valley right over to the western extremity of
Karori. Finally we drove back through the northern suburbs (
Wilton,
Northland,
Crofton Downs,
Ngaio,
Khandallah and
Johnsonville) and back up SH1 to the Kapiti Coast. All in all we had a good day, saw lots of the city, had some fanastic weather and stopped to walk and take photos too many times to recount! It was cool as.
On Wednesday, we spent most of the day looking at job applications and dealing with banking, tax office and other exciting stuff. It was dull as, but nice sitting out looking at the sea in the sunshine. We also booked accomodation for the journey to Christchurch and arranged a place to stay when we get there.
On Thursday, we drove out to
Cape Palliser via the
Tararua Forest Park and the country town of
Featherstone. We stopped at
Lake Ferry where Lake Onoke
Te Papa
Wellington and it's spit meet the sea. We also drove through the fishing village of
Ngawi which is remarkable because of the many bulldozers they use to haul boals in and out of the ocean. We saw sheep, NZ Fur seals and a stoat (which ran across the road). At the Cape we climbed the 250 steps to the lighthouse and then spent a couple of hours on the beach. On the way back we drove via
Martinborough, the wine region famous for it's Pinot Noir and sampled a few at the Martinborough Wine Centre. The whole day was sweet as.
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Mike
non-member comment
What's with the "....cool as" comments
Guys. You've only been away for a few weeks and you're already forgetting how to complete a sentence. Please. You're starting to sound...... AMERICAN! Lets have a couple of verses of Land of hope and Glory to make you feel better.