So with a final farewell to Waimarama Beach, Erin Mountain and Te Mata Peak we hit the road a running.
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| Waimarama Beach |
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| Erin Mountain |
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| Te Mata Peak |
The drive from Waimarama Beach to Wellington took us a lot less time that we thought it was going to take. It was 350 kilometers and I had planned 8 hours for the drive as that was about what we had been averaging to date using our past performance as a guideline. Surprisingly, the highway was in better shape and more importantly it was pretty straight. We actually made the drive in about 6 hours and that included our stop for lunch and some pictures.
The highway and drive took us through very similar terrain to what we had been seeing in both the Coromandel and the East Cape. It was a combination of rolling hills using for cattle and sheep along with flat farmland used for vegetables and fruit, especially grapes. We could look in both directions and see fairly large hills in the distance with the western side being much larger and higher. It wasn't a landscape that jumped out at us but it we did find ourselvesthoroughly enjoying it.
We did stop and have lunch with a Kiwi before continuing our drive.
It was after lunch that the drive started to get interesting. In order to get to Wellington we had to cross the mountains we had been following all morning. There was no easy way to the other side, up and over. As usual it was a long climb up with severe switchbacks and not much to stop us if we happened to miss a turn. Fortunately we were on the left had side of the road heading south so Kathy was not looking straight down.
The sad part is that there was only one place to pull over and take pictures and that was at the summit. It did give us a pretty nice view of the valley and mountains along with a look of the road we had just travelled.
We arrived in Wellington and found the holiday park we were wanting to stay at. When we pulled in we discovered that BackPackers had their Wellington office in the park. Bonus. We made an appointment to get the van checked the next morning and then headed to our site to relax for the balance of the day. Kathy was tired from having to apply the brakes so much during our drive through the mountains.
Monday (Day 47) started with us at the BackPacker office getting some of the small repairs done before we headed to an offsite garage. They are going to look at the ball joints and see if they need changing. I have been complaining since we picked up the van and sure enough they need to be changed. So we made an appointment for the next day and left to go to the downtown area of Wellington.
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| Wellington and Wellington Bay |
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| Wellington |
We wanted to take in the Museum so we found a parking spot, not an easy task and walked over to the museum.
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| Te Papa |
We spent an enjoyable afternoon slowly absorbing the exhibits and learning more about this great little country. Due to the lighting I didn't try to take any pictures. We left the Museum and battled our way back to the park during rush hour traffic. We arrived safe and sound and settled in for a relaxing night.
Day 48 was all about the van. We had an appointment for 9AM to get the ball joints replaced which meant we were stuck at the camp for the day. The van was returned to us in the mid afternoon but we just stayed in the park for the balance of the day. I did book the ferry for Saturday morning to the South Island so that gives us two more days to take in the sights of Wellington.
Not sure what we are planning to do tomorrow. A lot will depend on the weather.
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