Today is the 13th day of our 42-day dog/house sit here in New Plymouth, New Zealand. After which, we will have a few days before we pop “over the ditch” (local expression for travel between New Zealand and Australia) for our cat/house sit in Brisbane, Australia. The last few days have been a little rainy with periods of sunshine, but we have managed to get some walks in — both with the dogs and without.
Today, was projected to be sunny in the morning and a little wet in the afternoon, so we started the day by taking the dogs to a park called “The Groin.” And boy do I (Bob) want to same some witty stuff about that name, but I will hold my tongue. Despite the name, it is a great green space around Lake Rotomanu where Baz and Jess can run off-leash. They really seem to enjoy it.
After that we brought the dogs home and walked to “The Federal Store” for breakfast. It is a really nice cafe that serves breakfast and lunch. At first, I thought the female staff there had eye problems but it turns out they were just winking at me (seems to be happening a lot in NZ–just like the states). Beth is now doing a three hour run. She may run the New Plymouth half marathon on October 4, and I may amble the 5 or 10k course.
Yesterday (Thursday), we hiked the Waitara Heritage Trail — another trail listed in our “Taranaki Walker’s Guide” pamphlet. Waitara is a town just north of New Plymouth, so we drove there — managed to stay on the “right” (which is to say the left) side of the road! Of all the hikes (tramps) we have done so far, this was the least exciting. The trail was a 6km (3.75 mile) route around the city. Due to earlier flooding (we think), we could not find many of the points of interest listed on the guide. The route was not the prettiest, and the trail was very muddy in many parts.
On the way back to New Plymouth, we saw a sign for a winery and thought, why not? It was just 7km off the main road. Turns out it was a place that made wines (and gin) out of fruit rather than grapes–Sentry Hill Winery. The attendant working was very nice, and had some great stories to share — including an awesome Octoberfest trip that he took to Germany one time where he ended up buying multiple magnums of Dom Perignon for the Germans (he had to be reminded of this by a buddy after getting the credit card bill) because he felt sorry for them losing the war. Can’t imagine that conversation, but apparently all ended up having a good time! He also educated us on the feijoa fruit, originally from south Africa from which he makes one of his wines. We liked the gin best, so bought a bottle of that.
We go out to eat about once every three nights or so to places that we can walk to. We ended the day yesterday with a drink at Rig 66 and then dinner at Joe’s Garage. We ended up running into some friends of our homeowners downtown afterwards. Nice to know some locals!
On Wednesday, after a stroll down Devon Street (we have worn the sidewalk thin on this main street) to the TSB Showplace to buy tickets to the Taranaki Fashion Art Awards (more on that after the 9/12 show), we trekked the Huatoki Walkway trail. Again, another beautiful stream/river that has a trail beside it. It was lovely and a good 10km round trip hike. On the way back, we stopped at Pukekura Park for a bathroom break and a picnic lunch and ended up getting caught a bit in a quick deluge. Luckily, were close to an overhang where we could put our rain gear on to continue our walk back into town and then home.
Peckish Travels 