New Year’s Eve! It may have been the rainy weather, or it may just have been the jet lag wearing off, but we slept in again. After scoring some breakfast at the supermarket and putzing around a bit more downtown, it was time to queue up for the ferry, then off we went to Wellington. We drove around the metro area a bit, then headed up Highway 1 to start looking for lodging, as it was now close to 5pm. We drove through Porirua and were considering a few places, when we came to Plimmerton. We first turned down a side street, but seeing nothing but small shops and beach there, we went about another block up the highway and saw the Spinnaker Motel. There we found a very nice older gentleman who was minding the place for a friend who was on holiday. He offered us a great deal on a large room with a queen bed and a full bed, a sitting area, and a full kitchenette. Since the first street we’d turned down had a beach with a nice walk along it, we accepted.
We were in the mood for pizza, so we asked where to get a good one. He told us where to find a Hell Pizza (the chain I mentioned in my previous Petone post). We went there and ordered for takeaway, since there wasn’t really a dining area. The kids working there were so friendly and helpful! We got a combo pizza called “Wrath” and an order of “Spirit” pasta (alfredo sauce, onions, mushrooms, and bacon). The standard pizza sauce in New Zealand is similar to BBQ sauce, and the venison pepperoni was more like salami, but the pizza was a good combination of flavors. The pasta, though, was outstanding, with creamy, garlicky sauce and nice chunks of onion and bacon.
After clearing away the debris left from our scarf session, we sat back to watch a little TV (and do a little tweeting), and drifted off to sleep.
Day 13: Plimmerton, Palmerston North, and Panic
We awoke nice and early in 2012 to mostly sunny skies, and headed back down to the beach area, which was the old town center. We had a light brekkie at the coffee shop on the corner, then started walking down the parade–Sunset Parade. The tide was out, so there was from 50 to 100m of rocky beach, with plenty of gulls and shags flying around, sitting, and calling. Across Onehunga Bay we could see the northern reaches of Porirua–a nice neighborhood with a golf course, and a hill with communications towers at the top. In the other direction was Plimmerton itself, rows of houses on the hillside, neighborly but not crowded. Sunset Parade is very short, but Moana Road takes over and continues north for another 1½ km or so. Along the way I saw the remains of an old narrow-gauge railway that likely went out to the long-gone pier, to haul the day’s catch from the boats to the market. Now, there are no boats, there is no market; just houses with well-manicured front lawns that overlook the sea.
We spent a couple of hours walking down the road and on the beach, taking photos of the seascape and of the houses. One house in particular caught my eye: the Somme House. Apparently it’s one of the more historic buildings in town, because it features lettering in the stucco above the top floor windows, reading “Somme House 1916”. We also spied a cat waiting patiently for one of the sparrows to alight on the roof of her house.
Refreshed from our walk, we got back in the car and started north. We planned to go through Palmerston North (apparently there is a Palmerston on the South Island, too) and over to Napier in Hawke’s Bay on the east coast for the night. A short way out of Plimmerton is Paraparaumu, which I had fun saying over and over (still do). As we approached Palmerston North on Highway 57, we saw a sign for an alternate route (56). The distance was nearly identical, so we took the alternate route, figuring it would be less touristy. I don’t know what’s on Hwy 57, but Hwy 56 is certainly devoid of any roadside attractions or tourist businesses. It crosses the Manawatu River and passes through farmland, coming into town from the west, where Hwy 57 passes by town and Massey University on the south.
We were actually glad to have come into town from the direction we did, because we saw a Warehouse store (similar to TJ Maxx or Burlington Coat Factory) and some likely lunch places. After exploring downtown with its large green town square, and finding everything closed (it was New Year's Day, after all), we backtracked and had lunch. We stopped at the Warehouse to look at sport shoes for me, since my old ones smelled of sea water. We found a pair for NZ$30 (US$24)–score! We then went back to a park we had seen on the Manawatu River for a walk, so I could try them out.
The Palmerston North council has done a wonderful job with the riverside track, which we accessed from a park on the east side of Fitzherbert Street (which goes out to the University). We started east, up river, on the paved track, and soon came to a tower that gave information about the height of the river and its flow rate. There was no flood danger on this day, and we continued southeast around a slight bend and toward a high bluff on the other side of the river. That land mass was split by a creek valley, which created a beautiful green backdrop to the Manawatu. On reflection, I realize the bluff face had experienced a recent slide because of the heavy rains in the first part of December 2011.
The river flows south, then bends sharply back west as it gets to the bluff, so for us that meant the track turned left. It also ran out of pavement and became a slightly muddy gravel path. We ambled past a small, clover-carpeted grove of unspecified trees, up toward a rise where we could see the edge of a nondescript residential area. We found there was a generic golf course on our left, and as the trees and brush thinned out we could see run-of-the-mill golfers enjoying the mild summer day.On the way back to the park and the car, we met a couple walking their two Weimaraners. We are both fascinated with the silver-colored dogs, so we stopped to talk to them. They confirmed that the dogs are great companions for hiking; he said he takes them hunting, too. Apparently there are quite a few deer running around on top of that bluff.
The new shoes had performed admirably! With our legs stretched, we got back in the car and went on toward Napier. After just a few kilometers at the town of Ashhurst, a sign informed us that Highway 3 (which follows the river) was out due to flooding and washouts, and we would have to detour over Saddle Road. We are so glad we did! The power-generating windmills we could see from the river in Palmerston North are actually on that saddle. At the summit of the road there’s even a small enclosed area, carved out of pastureland, around one of the towers, with consumer-oriented information about the windmills.We went on to Napier, and started out going to the Port of Napier following the road that led to the hotel-lined Marine Parade. We inquired in a few of the hotels, but rates were much too high, and there were no vacancies anyway. Well, it was still fairly early, not 6:00 yet, so we looked at our map and figured we could make Taupo by 8:30. It was after 9:00 when we got to town, because it was not only growing dark, but we drove through several heavy rain showers in the mountain passes. We were able to find a restroom and food, but completely unable to find a hotel room.
The next-closest large town is Rotorua. We really weren’t interested in visiting Rotorua, we thought, because the most advertised attractions there are geothermal features–hot pools, geysers, and such–and Maori cultural shows. We came to New Zealand to do outdoor stuff, and we’ve already been to Yellowstone. But we needed to find a room soon, so over more mountains to Rotorua we went. The motels down the main boulevard were either dark or displaying “No Vacancy” signs. We found the Princes Gate a couple of blocks off the boulevard, near the Government Gardens, but they wanted NZ$165 for the night. The night was half over!
The clerk there made a couple of calls, and told us we should try the Holiday Inn. We drove back down the boulevard and two blocks over to the hotel. The lady behind the desk told us their normal rate was NZ$165 as well, but she was able to discount it to NZ$140. Since it was now 1am, we reluctantly acceded to pay that price. When we got to the room, we found the electronic key (a rarity in New Zealand) didn’t work. The housekeeper let us in so DW could unpack while I took the key back to the desk for recoding. When I got back, DW was still talking to the housekeeper about things to do in Rotorua.
We also learned that the 1st through 4th of January is a holiday in New Zealand, and that’s why the hotels are so full!
Finally, we were able to stretch out and rest. At least they had good pillows.
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