Carry on Camping
We checked out of our seaside hotel at 10, ran a few errands in New Plymouth, then drove down the Surf Highway, route 45, a couple of hours from New Plymouth to Opunake. It’s a little holiday town with a…
American Elms, English Ash, Cycad Vegetation
We did some gardens. After coffee and a scone, we set off to the outskirts of New Plymouth for a visit to Tupare. The gardens here were, in the 1930s, part of a private residence of a local industrialist. By…
It’s Mt. Denali and Mt. McKinley, It’s Mt. Denali and Mt. McKinley
So, yes, we spent a day hiking Mt. Taranaki, a dormant volcano which lies due east of New Plymouth (named, by Cook, Mt. Egmont, so it depends on how old your atlas is as to what it’s called). Given the…
Compare and Contrast Day
First full day in New Plymouth: it was cloudy, it was warm and humid, it was windy. We walked the west coast. There is a seawall here that runs from the working port in the south, through the city, to…
From the Towers of Manhattan to the Hills of Beverly
A new dawn: We Go Bi-Coastal. With all due respect to Peter Allen. We got up early, we took an Uber to the Christchurch “International” Airport, and caught a flight to Auckland, then rented a car, and drove southwest to…
South of the Stour, Like Really South
So I went from nearly 34,000 steps on Wednesday to less than 10,000 on Thursday due to, of course, several hours of sitting on a train. I woke up Friday and the tracking app gave me a novel message after…
Brockway, Ogdenville and North Haverbrook
Another big travel day. We were up and out of the hotel by 7 AM; we had mapped a walking route to Addington, where the KiwiRail station is. Arrived by 7:30; busloads of tourists being dropped off. We checked-in and…
A River Runs Through It
The river Avon cuts through central Christchurch Or five. A lot of waterways and tributaries. It’s a flat expanse Christchurch is, a grid system of streets offset by a meandering Avon river which intersects at random and, well, a lot…
Legend Tripping
Next travel day: Wellington to Christchurch. First, the Interislander Ferry across the Cook Strait (about 1.5 hours) then it turns east down the fjord leading to Picton (about 1.75 hours). Keeping in mind yesterday’s blog post, with the sinking ferry…
A Whisper of Dishonour
Sunny. Again. Will it ever end? Stopped for coffee and calories at a bakery called Dough, then took the funicular up above the city. Not much flat land in the city, so in an effort to expand in the…