New Plymouth

I had wanted to see New Plymouth, but Andy wasn't so keen, said there is nothing there, so Fran and I decided we would take a drive out there one day last week.

We started off at around 9.30 am, hoping to be there in a couple of hours. This may well have been achievable had I remembered to fill up with petrol! Now, petrol stations are not plentiful on NZ roads, and after about 40 minutes, the warning light began to flash and I had a little panic. Not like me I hear you cry! We stopped and asked a friendly Kiwi if we should try to get back to Wanganui, but he assured us that there was a garage about 10 km further on, so we went for it, flashing lights and all. Petrol bought and panic over, we continued with our journey. 

The road divides at a place called Hawera, and loops around Mount Taraniki with New Plymouth on the far side of the loop. Unfortunately there was low cloud, and we couldn't see the mountain so we stopped en route at a settlers village museum near Stratford and spent a happy hour or so wandering around the houses and other village buildings which dated back to the late 19th century. I was particularly impressed with the rules for teachers behaviour and thought they might interest Kate. Although I haven't posted it, a second set of rules for teachers allows male teachers one afternoon off per week for courting!

Settlers village

So on again to New Plymouth, which was very much like Wanganui really, except that it is on the coast. We walked along the front for a bit, looked at an 'interesting' work of art called 'the wind wand' by a local chap called Len Lye  and had a coffee, but that was it. To be fair, we didn't really have a long time to spend as it had taken much longer to get there than I thought. So we continued around the loop and returned by the coastal route. We visited a lighthouse, which didn't seem to be near enough to the coast to be of any use. However, it was described as functioning. Still no signs of Taranaki, so we headed off home.  

New Plymouth Coastal walk and the Wind Wand

The inland lighthouse with Mt. Taranaki cloaked in cloud

It turns out that Andy was reasonably accurate in his assessment of the place, but we had a good, if tiring day anyway.