We got on the Interislander ferry and it was sparsely populated with passengers. The last time we transited the islands, it was the Labor three day holiday weekend and it was packed with people going from Wellington to Picton. Today, we also chose to go with the Premier Plus upgrade because the lounge is comfortable and they serve a great hot breakfast, provide free Wi-Fi and unlimited coffees or wine. Earline certainly made use of the free wine privilege. :) I however, got a bit seasick half way across the Tasman Sea and had to remain still with my eyes closed. Fortunately, I did not get sicker and needed to expel my breakfast. :(
Once we exited the ship, obtaining a new rental vehicle from Avis was very easy. Someone was at the desk, had the contract prepared for me to sign and gave me the keys to an ugly blue Toyota Corolla.
Since I had been driving a nice grey car of the same make, there was no problem in trying to adapt to a new car in the Wellington traffic. We loaded our luggage that had some difficulty being offloaded from the ferry because they could not get the doors to open. Someone forgot to grease them I think.
Since I had been driving a nice grey car of the same make, there was no problem in trying to adapt to a new car in the Wellington traffic. We loaded our luggage that had some difficulty being offloaded from the ferry because they could not get the doors to open. Someone forgot to grease them I think.
We set the navigator to New Plymouth because the brother of a friend of Earline’s has been living in New Zealand for many years, and Earline wanted to get an update on his status for her friend. Bruce was a history major and ended up writing history books on the WWII about the Pacific Theater.
About the author of the books: http://www.voicesfromthepacificwar.com/about
The drive took about 4 3/4 hours but went through some interesting coastal landscape that was constantly changing. There were many small beach towns with sheep farms abutting the houses and in some cases interspersed to the houses.
Approaching New Plymouth, you can see Mt. Taranaki, the stratovolcano that is nearly a perfect cone. This is the Maori name for the volcano but Captain Cook called it Mt. Edgemont after John Perceval, second Earl of Edgemont, a former first Lord of the Admiralty who had supported the concept of an oceanic search forTerra Australia Incognita. Cook described it as "of a prodigious height and its top cover'd with everlasting snow," surrounded by a "flat country ... which afforded a very good aspect, being clothed with wood and verdure."
Mt. Taranaki (Click the link)
We were pretty exhausted when we got to New Plymouth and made contact with Bruce Petty to arrange to meet for breakfast in the morning. We chose a nice motel called B-K’s Edgemont Motor Lodge that was very tidy and had a jacuzzi tub and a small efficiency kitchen.
We walked into town (20 minutes) to get dinner at a local pub called “The Black Harp” and had a good local dark beer. Earline wanted a hamburger and I wanted to try the “Roast of the Day” that was a pork roast with lots of vegetables. We have never seen a vegetable farm nor a pig farm and we are wondering where this stuff comes from. Maybe Bruce will be able to tell me?
We walked into town (20 minutes) to get dinner at a local pub called “The Black Harp” and had a good local dark beer. Earline wanted a hamburger and I wanted to try the “Roast of the Day” that was a pork roast with lots of vegetables. We have never seen a vegetable farm nor a pig farm and we are wondering where this stuff comes from. Maybe Bruce will be able to tell me?
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