Wellington – New Plymouth

6 March – 10 March

Sunday:

We’re up and away this morning for the drive over to pretty Picton.  We’re getting the lunchtime ferry to the north island.  There have been a few weather warnings in place and the seas are currently listed as ‘moderate’, so we’re not expecting a particularly smooth ride.  On the plus side, the ferry is huge and should be able to plough through the worst of the bumps. 

The first part of the journey is through the beautiful, calm waters of Marlborough Sound.  After an hour and a bit we hit the open waters of the Cook Straight and things start to get a bit bumpy. 

Walking becomes harder and harder as our legs seem to grow and shrink beneath us.  We’re finding it hilarious, but those suffering from sea-sickness (more than half by the looks of things), aren’t appreciating our merriment. 

3 hours later we finally dock in Wellington.  We’re reunited with our car and make our way to our hotel (once again a lastminute.com special).  Once we’re settled we head out to Flying Burrito Brothers (a favourite from Christchurch) for some delicious Mexican food.

Janet adds: first impressions of Wellington are good: pretty city with good shops, bars and restaurants.

Monday:

After happily devouring some poached eggs on toast we set out to explore Wellington.  It’s the biggest city we’ve been in since Christchurch but still feels easily manageable on foot.  We spend a couple of hours at the fascinating Te Papa museum then walk over to the Civic Square to check out the exhibits at the City Gallery. 

We call into a café for lunch and then take the historic cable car up to the top of the botanic gardens for a leisurely stroll through the greenery back down.

Having had our fill of sight-seeing for one day we head back to the hotel where I entertain myself in the onsite gym while Nick watches football.  In the evening we find a gorgeous Mac’s brewbar on the waterfront, which lures us in for a few beers.  I’ve left it to Nick to find us somewhere to eat tonight and he’s decided on the Red Dog.  Mostly, I think, because it has dog in the name and the logo is a dog.

Nevertheless, they do excellent (if a little weird: I go for the broccoli and blue cheese combo) pizzas.  We take ourselves off to bed feeling rather fond of Wellington. 

Tuesday:

As we did most of our sight-seeing yesterday we’ve got quite a leisurely day today.  We start with a wander up to the Mt Victoria lookout.  The walk is a little more strenuous than we’d anticipated, but we entertain ourselves with a rope swing on the way up. 

We successfully navigate the numerous school groups at the top to appreciate the lovely views of the city and harbour.

We walk back down again past Wellington’s surprisingly pretty city centre beach. 

We pick up a bit of shopping and make ourselves sandwiches back at the hotel, then spend the afternoon window-shopping.  The Wellington City & Sea Museum lures us in and is far more entertaining than it sounds.  Any dog lovers out there will like the story of Paddy the Wanderer: http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/timeline/17/07

We take an hour or so at the hotel to rest our tired legs, then proceed to our favourite new Mac’s bar.  We decide – purely for the sake of comprehensive research, you understand – to visit our 3^rd Little India in New Zealand.  We’re so predictable.  Still, it’s good as ever.

Wednesday:

We leave Wellington this morning and head up the west coast towards New Plymouth.  After a couple of days of hit and miss weather the sun is finally out.  It’s a scenic drive past pretty beaches and towns.  Already it’s clear that the north island is more populated than the south, but in a good way.   It feels a little less rural and it seems you’re never too far from a decent sized town.

We arrive in New Plymouth mid-afternoon and stop to pick up some groceries before heading to our campsite at Oakura.  It turns out to be right on a long, beautiful beach perfect for a late afternoon stroll.

 It’s a warm, sunny evening and we enjoy it with a few beers on the veranda of our cabin as the sun goes down.

 At night we fall asleep to the sound of crashing waves.

Thursday:

The first thing to say is that it was my fault.  Nick suggested it might not be the best idea, but I wanted to climb it: Mt Taranaki/Egmont.  And really, who could blame me?  It’s an almost perfectly symmetrical volcano that looks like a child has drawn it on the horizon.  Who wouldn’t want to climb it? 

Somehow Nick lets himself be persuaded, so we’re up early packing our rucksacks with plenty of food and water.  We call into the visitor’s centre to check on conditions (which are good).  We get cracking.  The first hour and a half of the climb follows a 4WD track, which sounds innocent enough, except that it’s steep.  And just when we think surely it can’t keep going like this, we hit the section known as ‘the puffer’.  It lives up to its name and by the time we reach the top of the track we are both out of breath. 

That was the easy bit.  Next we climb some wooden stairs and then pick our way up a rock-filled valley where we see our first snow.  Then it’s more stairs.  We’re both relieved to get to the top of the stairs and the views are getting even better.

We’re now on the scree slopes it’s like trying to walk up a giant (and very steep) gravel heap.  It feels like I’m sliding down more than going up.  The clouds pull in around us and we’re soon in cool mist.  I’ve realised now that I might have bitten off more than I can chew and I’m about ready to turn around and head back down, but with a bit of encouragement (and a few pushes from behind) from Nick we finally get to the top of the scree.

We’re onto ‘the lizard’ – a rocky ridge that will take us up to the rim of the crater.  It’s psychologically easier than the scree especially as we’ve broken through the clouds again, but we’re now hauling ourselves over rocks.

It’s hard going, and a little hairy at times with some steep drop-offs.  The higher we get the heavier the snow.  Again I’m in need of a bit of encouragement from Nick (and believe me, I’ll never hear the end of it). 

Finally though we’ve done it: we’re at the crater rim.  It is beautiful and quite other-wordly: the rocks are covered in ice and the crater is full of snow. 

Clambering into the crater over the ice is a bit hair-raising, but suddenly it all feels worth it.  The official summit is another short climb up the other side of the crater, but this is as far as we’re getting without crampons and ice-axes so we satisfy ourselves with a tromp round the crater.

The hard work is over, all we’ve got to do is get back down… which is another whole story. 

It turns out that clambering over the rocks isn’t that much easier down than up. 

We can’t wait till we hit the scree, figuring we can slide down.  Which we pretty much do, only in an uncontrolled and pretty painful manner.  We both take our fair share of tumbles and it’s a relief to reach the stairs again – at least there’s solid ground under our feet again. 

Finally, 7 and a half hours later, we make it back to the car.

Janet adds:  I’d like to say I’ve learnt my lesson, but I think I probably haven’t.  I am in pain though and walking is a problem.

Nick adds:  I’m finding it quite funny that Janet wanted to climb the mountain and is in more pain than me. You may not be surprised that she is getting no sympathy from me.