January 22nd – 28th – Arrival in Wellington
Wellington is the Capital City, but it’s not like the European cities it’s quite small and easy to get around. I like it because you can park easily, there’s not a lot of traffic, and you can easily get out. You can be in the middle of nowhere very quickly, and there are Mountain Bike tracks all over the place. The beaches are only about 15 minutes from the city centre, and in fact you can get to one within about 5 minutes! Al in all it’s a great place, and we enjoyed our stay here.
Mon 22nd – We left the campsite in Levin in the rain, and no sooner had we gone less than a mile and I spotted a brewery! Well, of course we had to stop and investigate. Half an hour later we left with 6 bottles of their finest. This brewery is called the Loaded Hog, and they have a number of beers and lager. They all sounded nice, but I was only allowed 6 bottles!
After a quick stop at Otaki, we got to Paraparaumo. My mother’s friend’s friend lives here. So we thought we would pop in and see Ron Barnes and his wife Vera, to try and organise my mothers visit to them in April. We called at the door and were promptly invited in for a cup of tea, and ended up staying for evening meal of ‘Fish and Chips’. Wonderful!! Thanks to Ron and Vera for putting up with us, and Vera you look nothing like ‘Norah Batty’, although you sound a bit like her!!
That night we stayed in the local campsite, which was full, but we were squeezed in on the front of a static caravan.
Tues 23rd –Yes, still raining! We left and went to the local shopping centre, as it seemed the only thing we could do in this weather. That’s the problem when you live out of a camper van you can’t go and get wet then dry everything quickly, like you can in your house, so you are sometimes left wandering what you can do when it rains.
Anyway we went shopping, and remarkably didn’t spend too much money! Afterwards we went to Porirua, as we had heard of a Park over property at the NZ Kennel Club. We arrived there, and sure enough we got power, and toilet facilities provided all for the princely sum of $10. After a quick trip to the local video shop to pick up some cheap videos for our movie nights, we settled down for the night.
You would think that the kennel Club might have some dogs around, but no (luckily- as there was no yapping), this was a showground.
Wed 24th – Today we went to Wellington on the train, it only took 20 minutes, and cost $20 for all of us. We left the van at the kennel club. Wellington is a nice city, and one of the first views we had of the central district were of the Rugby Ground! Heaven! We got off the train, and walked along the waterfront, which is really nice. There is a heliport for scenic flights, a kayak hire and shop which has 3 great climbing walls (probably more suited to the children, as Lucy and I are not that agile anymore!), and a children’s play area. We were quite impressed with all this. Anyway we stole our way from the play area and made for the Post Office. Once there we picked up all of our post. Wellingtonians looked upon us a bit strangely as we opened Christmas presents and read letters in the middle of a pedestrian area. Still, it was really nice to know that we weren’t forgotten after all! We made our way towards the cable car which is famous here, but on the way were drawn into a second hand bookshop. ‘We don’t need anymore books’ was the shout from Lucy, but we ended up with 4 or 5 extra ones to take back and fit into the van somewhere! We went up the cable car, which gives you wonderful views of the city and the harbour. The Harbour really is quite big, and the Turquoise coloured sea with a backdrop of the city is quite a sight. The cable car has been here since 1902, which I suppose from European standards is young, but they have a really good museum about it, which is as good as any similar one I’ve been to. We didn’t go down on the cable car, we decided to walk down through the botanical gardens which also has an observatory, that’s a visit for another day! The park includes cemetery as well, where a lot of Wellingtons famous fore fathers are buried, however there was a bit of a storm when they built the main motorway into the city, as they went straight through the middle of the cemetery and had to move a number of these dignitaries!! To finish the day off we popped in a waterfront pub for a beer or two, would have been impolite not to have done!
Thurs 25th - Today was a moving exercise where we left Porirua, and moved to Lower Hutt. On the way we went to a little town called Eastbourne, which is a beautiful little place. It would be a good place to commute to Wellington, as it only takes 20 minutes on the boat, but seems like a world away!
We stayed in the Top 10 campsite in Lower Hutt, but didn’t see much of the town.
Fri 26th- Today was another moving day where we moved, this time from Lower Hutt to Upper Hutt. Again we didn’t really see much of the town except for the super market. The distance was only 14 km between the two cities, but we spent a lot of time with lessons, and we found free Internet access at the Lower Hutt Hospital.
We stayed at a nice quiet campsite next to a park called Harcourt Park, whaich was where some scenes for The Lord of The Rings were filmed, the bits where Gandalf gets to Isangaard to met with Saruman the White.
Sat 27th – Today we decided to explore and drove to the Rimutaka Rail trail, which is an old rail track through the mountains. It was good weather. We were aiming to go about 10km up to a tunnel. Lucy and Rowena walked and Alistair and I cycled there, with the girls leaving about an hour before the boys. The trail is an easy incline to the tunnel, and the tunnel itself is pretty cool! It’s 570 meters long, and even with lights you feel light you are peddling into the unknown. It’s a strange feeling cycling in darkness, with the only thing you can see is the tunnel wall where the light is shining.
On the way back to the car the girls cycled down hill all the way, whilst Alistair got me to run most of the way. He is a good trainer, we walked for 30 seconds, then jogged for 30, ran for 10, jogged for 10, walked for 30 and so on. We did this the whole way back, and it took us about an hour and 10 minutes, compared with the 2 and a half hours that the girls took to walk.
We all slept well that night!
Sun 28th – We awoke to another sunny day. Alistair and I rode down the Hutt valley cycleway for about 7 km’s, where we stopped and let Rowena take over from him. On the way we saw where Frodo left Rivendell using the Elven boats! Alistair decided to try and do some cycle acrobatics, and promptly landed on the floor!
Rowena took over from Alistair, and by the end of the ride I have to say that I was glad it was finished! We continued down the cycleway to Petone, where we met the others for a late lunch by the beach.
Another early night tonight!
Mon 22nd – We left the campsite in Levin in the rain, and no sooner had we gone less than a mile and I spotted a brewery! Well, of course we had to stop and investigate. Half an hour later we left with 6 bottles of their finest. This brewery is called the Loaded Hog, and they have a number of beers and lager. They all sounded nice, but I was only allowed 6 bottles!
After a quick stop at Otaki, we got to Paraparaumo. My mother’s friend’s friend lives here. So we thought we would pop in and see Ron Barnes and his wife Vera, to try and organise my mothers visit to them in April. We called at the door and were promptly invited in for a cup of tea, and ended up staying for evening meal of ‘Fish and Chips’. Wonderful!! Thanks to Ron and Vera for putting up with us, and Vera you look nothing like ‘Norah Batty’, although you sound a bit like her!!
That night we stayed in the local campsite, which was full, but we were squeezed in on the front of a static caravan.
Tues 23rd –Yes, still raining! We left and went to the local shopping centre, as it seemed the only thing we could do in this weather. That’s the problem when you live out of a camper van you can’t go and get wet then dry everything quickly, like you can in your house, so you are sometimes left wandering what you can do when it rains.
Anyway we went shopping, and remarkably didn’t spend too much money! Afterwards we went to Porirua, as we had heard of a Park over property at the NZ Kennel Club. We arrived there, and sure enough we got power, and toilet facilities provided all for the princely sum of $10. After a quick trip to the local video shop to pick up some cheap videos for our movie nights, we settled down for the night.
You would think that the kennel Club might have some dogs around, but no (luckily- as there was no yapping), this was a showground.
Wed 24th – Today we went to Wellington on the train, it only took 20 minutes, and cost $20 for all of us. We left the van at the kennel club. Wellington is a nice city, and one of the first views we had of the central district were of the Rugby Ground! Heaven! We got off the train, and walked along the waterfront, which is really nice. There is a heliport for scenic flights, a kayak hire and shop which has 3 great climbing walls (probably more suited to the children, as Lucy and I are not that agile anymore!), and a children’s play area. We were quite impressed with all this. Anyway we stole our way from the play area and made for the Post Office. Once there we picked up all of our post. Wellingtonians looked upon us a bit strangely as we opened Christmas presents and read letters in the middle of a pedestrian area. Still, it was really nice to know that we weren’t forgotten after all! We made our way towards the cable car which is famous here, but on the way were drawn into a second hand bookshop. ‘We don’t need anymore books’ was the shout from Lucy, but we ended up with 4 or 5 extra ones to take back and fit into the van somewhere! We went up the cable car, which gives you wonderful views of the city and the harbour. The Harbour really is quite big, and the Turquoise coloured sea with a backdrop of the city is quite a sight. The cable car has been here since 1902, which I suppose from European standards is young, but they have a really good museum about it, which is as good as any similar one I’ve been to. We didn’t go down on the cable car, we decided to walk down through the botanical gardens which also has an observatory, that’s a visit for another day! The park includes cemetery as well, where a lot of Wellingtons famous fore fathers are buried, however there was a bit of a storm when they built the main motorway into the city, as they went straight through the middle of the cemetery and had to move a number of these dignitaries!! To finish the day off we popped in a waterfront pub for a beer or two, would have been impolite not to have done!
Thurs 25th - Today was a moving exercise where we left Porirua, and moved to Lower Hutt. On the way we went to a little town called Eastbourne, which is a beautiful little place. It would be a good place to commute to Wellington, as it only takes 20 minutes on the boat, but seems like a world away!
We stayed in the Top 10 campsite in Lower Hutt, but didn’t see much of the town.
Fri 26th- Today was another moving day where we moved, this time from Lower Hutt to Upper Hutt. Again we didn’t really see much of the town except for the super market. The distance was only 14 km between the two cities, but we spent a lot of time with lessons, and we found free Internet access at the Lower Hutt Hospital.
We stayed at a nice quiet campsite next to a park called Harcourt Park, whaich was where some scenes for The Lord of The Rings were filmed, the bits where Gandalf gets to Isangaard to met with Saruman the White.
Sat 27th – Today we decided to explore and drove to the Rimutaka Rail trail, which is an old rail track through the mountains. It was good weather. We were aiming to go about 10km up to a tunnel. Lucy and Rowena walked and Alistair and I cycled there, with the girls leaving about an hour before the boys. The trail is an easy incline to the tunnel, and the tunnel itself is pretty cool! It’s 570 meters long, and even with lights you feel light you are peddling into the unknown. It’s a strange feeling cycling in darkness, with the only thing you can see is the tunnel wall where the light is shining.
On the way back to the car the girls cycled down hill all the way, whilst Alistair got me to run most of the way. He is a good trainer, we walked for 30 seconds, then jogged for 30, ran for 10, jogged for 10, walked for 30 and so on. We did this the whole way back, and it took us about an hour and 10 minutes, compared with the 2 and a half hours that the girls took to walk.
We all slept well that night!
Sun 28th – We awoke to another sunny day. Alistair and I rode down the Hutt valley cycleway for about 7 km’s, where we stopped and let Rowena take over from him. On the way we saw where Frodo left Rivendell using the Elven boats! Alistair decided to try and do some cycle acrobatics, and promptly landed on the floor!
Rowena took over from Alistair, and by the end of the ride I have to say that I was glad it was finished! We continued down the cycleway to Petone, where we met the others for a late lunch by the beach.
Another early night tonight!
posted by greg and lucy | 1:50 AM
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