20th Day - New Plymouth, New Zealand
New Plymouth, New Zealand
Where I stayed
Top Ten Holiday Park
Writer: Jesse
Weather: Extremely rainy over night and morning, with a very strong wind and clouds the rest of the day with more rain.
After a long night of hard rain pounding the roof of the van, we finally started moving around 8:30 this morning. With all the noise from the rain neither Janessa or I slept very good. After showering (in the cheap showers that only allowed 5 minutes of hot water) and eating breakfast, we set off in the rain.
We continued up SH 1 along the west coast. We drove about 15 minutes before briefly stopping in Wiatarere to look at Wiatarere forest where LOTR (Lord Of The Rings) filmed a few scenes from Osgiliath Wood, and Trollshaw Forest. We didn't stay too long or wonder from the van because the rain was still coming down pretty good, and we weren't in much of a mood to trek around after both being quite tired. After also looking at the beach with the big waves from the wind, we continued north by the beach, and through the steep rolling hills. We passed through Foxton and into Bulls where they had all most every sign that had "bull, ble, or anything else that sounds like bull" in it. It was pretty amusing to drive through and look at. We turned off SH 1 and continued northwest on SH3. We came into Wanganui around noon and drove around the city and admired all of the old architecture as the entire downtown consisted of buildings from the late 1800s and early 1900s. It was a really cool place with a massive river that passed through the town just beside downtown. We drove around for 20 minutes or so before continuing northwest towards Patea.
The wind really started to pick up as we drove and when we got to the coastal town of Patea, it was blowing extremely strong. Naturally we went to the beach lookout to see what the ocean looked like, and it was impressive. We were on the cliffs 50' or so above the water and saw the waves that were close to 15' tall coming in and smashing against the banks of the cliffs. We set backed in and made lunch so that we could enjoy the view as the van rocked back and fourth from the pounding wind against us. After having a couple sandwiches we continued northwest on SH 3 where we turned off onto SH 45 "The surf highway" in Hawera that would take us on the coast around Egmont National park which acts as the centre of a peninsula type area on the west coast. As we drove I had 2 hands on the wheel at most times because of the wind pushing us all over the road. We turned off at Opunake to check out the beach along the city to see what the ocean was doing. The waves were still huge, and the wind was still raging against us as we puttered around the town. We got back onto the highway and continued more north now as we started to round around. We got to Cape Egmont where we went and checked out the light house. The light house was still functional and looked basically exactly how we thought a light house would.. so that was fun. After taking a few pictures we continued north, and northeast now before stopping in Oakura at a winery where we enjoyed some tastings and garlic bread.
The winery was on a hill that over looked the ocean and had amazing views around. We sat at our table with the window facing the ocean for around an hour before we got back into the van for the last bit of our journey today. We continued along the coast to New Plymouth where we got into the city right at rush hour. The city is pretty big, still smaller then Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch however still a busy place. We drove through downtown as we made our way through the city to the campground where we checked in, and found out where the closest gas station and grocery store were as we were running really low on fuel, and didn't have a lot left for groceries either. We found out the places and filled up with supplies and headed to one of the pedestrian bridges here that was opened in just 2010 as a major feat in engineering. The bridge only spans about 75' and is a suspension bridge with a single overhead beam that rounds up and over like a wave. It was really cool to go look at before we drove back to our camp ground to settle in with dinner and some more TV while the weather continues to not cooperate. Both Janessa and I are pretty tired tonight as I think our big road trip is starting to take its toll on us. The rain is still coming down after breaking for a bit this afternoon. With the way this weather is starting to look we are really looking forward to Austrailia where hot weather seems to be more of a certain.