Paraparaumu Trip - November 2011

In late November we had the opportunity to combine a trip north for a baptism with a visit to the beach and a great dinner with some senior missionaries.  Our course took us north out of Wellington to the west coast of New Zealand and up the coast about 50 miles.  Our desinations were Paraparaumu (just like it looks) and Levin.

I don't think that I've every shown a picture of our little Toyota.  Well, here it is.  No, stop, the drivers side is on the far side of the car!  Actually, it gets us around just great!

As you come out of Titahi bay, you come to the west coast in front of you.  This is a small community on the coast!

You proceed down to the coastline and then follow it north for a number of miles to Paraparaumu.

Here's what the drive along the coastline looked like from the drivers side!

Oh, back above the little community on the coast, I thought these trees were very interesting in that they show the severe wind conditions being blown all the time!

ALthough the weather didn't look all that bad, the ocean (Tasman Sea) on the west coast is pretty unpredictable so you've got to be prepared for the worst at all times.

This doesn't appear to be as rough, but don't let it deceive you!



Once in Paraparaumu, we had a little time on our hands prior to the baptism so we headed down to the beach...in our suits and dresses.  This is not Malibu for sure!

It does however have it's unique beauty!  Like these flowers mixed in with the weeds!

Up close you can see the real beauty of these flowers!  Mollie, do you like the color?

This was sort of neat.  The circles are made from the straw being blown around and around in a circle.



This Red-Billed-Gull was having a wonderful time in the sand.

Ann wasn't so sure of the beach in the dress, but did look forward to the baptism and dinner!

On the hill overlooking Paraparaumu and the Tasman Sea is this statue that stands some 46' high.  It's known as "Our Lady of the Lordes".

Ah, our destination!  The little chapel in Paraparaumu.

Here are four of the five children of the Samoan family that was baptised.

Ann's getting back into the roll of grandmother!



Then after the baptism, we drove about 30 miles further north to Levin and had a great dinner!  I had venison that was outstanding.  Around the table from me you have the Brazzeals, the Patchetts, the Overtons and Ann.

We already have a plan in January to return here because it was so good!

Eastbourne Trek - November 2011

Toward the middle of November we decided to go to the other side of the Wellington Harbor and make a trek to determine if it was possible to DRIVE to the two lighthouses at the tip of the entrance to the harbor.  These lighthouses are known as the Pencarrow Head lighthouses and they guard the southwestern edge of the entrance to the Harbor.  A little research and you'll find out that lighthouses have been at this location since about 1841.  The top one is not longer functional, but the bottom one still works.  There have been numerous shipwrecks at the entrance to the bay.  Let's take off on our trek (or in New Zealand they call it a "Tramp").

As we drove along, we came across this memorial.  As you can see, it's rather simple in it's design, but sort of neat.

This placque is located on the lead post of the memorial.  It speaks to the dangers of the reef at the entrance to Wellington Harbor.  The "Wahine" was a ferry that traversed the Cook Strait.  On the date noted it struck the reef and 53 passengers lost their lives.  A witness to the trechery of the harbor entrance.

All along, we're not that far from Wellington across the bay as you can see in this photo.

And since it's the start of summer, the cruise ships are starting to appear.  They are monsters!  Their passengers get off a visit the town and museums for a few hours and then return to the ship which normally departs some 8 or so hours later and heads back around the New Zealand islands.

We also came across this interesting little crowd so we had to investigate.

It's fresh fish for sale!  1kg is about 2.2 pounds.  New Zealand is famous for it's fresh seafood and we can attest that it's fabulous!

Here's Ann getting a little closer to the action!  I can tell you that there's a lot of personality in the ship and it's crew!  Wish we had more time to explore that also!

 Sure enough, FISH!  You could purchase the entire fish or just a fillet and they were freshly caught that morning off the coast.  Seems this fishing ship comes every morning to sell its catch!  When we headed back home and passed where this boat was, it was gone and a sign was on the price board "Sold Out"!

Ok, we determined that you cannot drive to the lighthouses so we're off walking not knowing how far they are.

It was a beautiful day and as you can see the sail ships were active in the harbor.  Folks, these are not your ordinary 10'-12' sail boats.  These puppies are 30' - 50' + beautiful seagoing ships.  The sort you would see in the "America's Cup".  They take their sailing very serious here. 

The beach was rather deserted but non-the-less very fun to walk around on.

I was looking for a piece of driftwood that would make a great walking stick.  That story will come at a later date.

We were accompanied by this "Variable Oyster Catcher".  The beak is appropriate for it's name!

Not to be outdone by the pros, these casual fishermen were set for the day!

The side of the hill to the west of the bay is adorned with some beautiful shrubbery.

Well, needless to say, we had a great tramp on the beach.  We learned that you can't drive out to the lighthouses and that the walk is a lot longer than meets the eye.  A little more research and we've found out that the roundtrip is over 6 miles so we'll do this on another day.  Ann totally agrees!



Off To Makara Beach - 29 Oct 2011

Saturday afternoon, October 29th, we decided that we had a little time on our hands so we took off to explore the western hills and coastline of Wellington.  We had no idea that it would turn out so beautiful and that we'd come across so many interesting tidbits.  The trip was only about 30km or 20 miles but full of new sites.  Here we go....

Wellington is behind the second range of mountains off to the left.  This is the community of Karori, a suburb of Wellington about 7-9km away to the west.

It seems that every community has its' own ball field.  Karori is not exception.

The don't just farm sheep here in the Wellington area.  This is a "Wind Farm" and the arms of these windmills are about 60' long.  We wanted to get a lot closer, but the road was private.  Ann made me turn back!

Here's a typical farm home with sheep in the area just in front and a nicely kept drive up to the home.  The trees surround everything.

And oh yes, the sheep and cattle are all over the hillsides here also.  We're far enough out from town, about 15km, that Wellington is now behind the tall range in the background of this photo.

It was just a beautiful day and the Tasman Sea was very calm.  We were surprised that there was little beach traffic.

We did have the seagulls and off behind them is a rubber dive boat that was just put on the trailer.  The diver is retrieving a rope to pull the trailer all the way (about 50m) back to the parking lot.

Here's a close-up of the dive boat.  You can see the dive tank and other accessories clearly.  They must have had a lot of fun.

This is a picture of the coastline about 5pm.  We learned today that if you want to take good pictures, go to the west coast in the morning and east coast in the afternoon and then you don't have to worry about dealing with the sun and bad shadows...anyway!

The road through the mountains and countryside was just beautiful.  Frequently it was as though you were driving through a tunnel made of trees and other foliage.

You can see here how the road winds around the countryside.  It's pretty beautiful isn't it!

All the way we were accompanied by a lazy flowing stream either on the left or right.  It was about 6' - 8' wide and about 1' deep.  I wondered if there were any fish in the chilly water, but we saw no fisherman so that's something to discover.

The flowers on the side of the road were everywhere and really made for some colorful scenery.  Mollie, we did only a shot of the purple flowers in your honor!

I thought that this dead tree was really neat so we stopped and drove onto a path leading to a farm house.  Pretty interesting wouldn't you say.  Then just after I took the picture, when reviewing it I noticed something in the limbs that didn't look like it belonged.  Upon further investigation, the picture below defines what was seen....

Yes, there was something behind that huge dead tree.  I looks like deer of some sort.  Let's go up the road a little further.

Upon further investigation, this was an elk farm.  Seems that every time I've eaten elk at a US restaurant, the elk comes from New Zealand.  This must be how they are raised...interesting!  They look pretty scrawny compared to the Rocky Mountain Elk that we're used to.  Perhaps due to coming out of the winter???

Well, that wraps up this trip into the countryside around New Zealand.  We have a few other directions to go so watch for those posts at a later date.  Happy travels of your own!

Oh, forgot to tell you...at the bottom of this post and the Labor Day post you'll notice a "Location" call out.  This is a google earth shot of the locations we've been to.  To view, simply click on the name of the site and bingo, you've got an aerial view of where we went.  Pretty neat...let me know if you like it.