Today is not New Plymouth at its loveliest. It is a cold 48 degrees with rain and 20+ mile an hour winds. However, we have had some lovely days recently to explore the area, so it’s probably good that we have a weather-induced reason to play catch-up on our notes.
So what have we been up to since last we connected? We’ve been trying to see as much of the Taranaki region as possible and take in some local activities. Since we have been out-of-touch for so long, I will cover these in 2 blogs so that you can skim each in a decent amount of time.
We have continued to explore both New Plymouth and smaller towns in the Taranaki region. We are always interested in trying to get a clear shot of the finicky Mount Taranaki but are still awaiting the perfect photo.
In New Plymouth, we have continued walking the town and doing local tramps. One day we drove to Barrett Domain, a local park/lagoon area, for a lovely short tramp through the bush/wetland to the lagoon and obtained one of our better shots of the mountain. We then walked the 2+ miles through town and down a country road to the Ratapihipihi (so glad no one makes you pronounce these names to enter!) Reserve. We passed a llama farm on the way there, and they allowed us to photograph them as we left. The path at the reserve was well maintained and marked, so it was a nice easy tramp before we walked back to the car.
Closest to our “home” we have wandered through the Te Henui Cemetary, and a beautiful, nationally-recognized garden (Te Kainga Marire) that is on the grounds of a local residence. We met the owner of the property and garden yesterday on our visit. She showed us around a bit and let us take a mandarin from one of her trees. The grounds are gorgeous — lots of native ferns, trees, flora, a fun little tunnel that you can walk through as well as a working vegetable and fruit garden. Both the cemetary and garden are maybe 10 minutes or so from the house we are staying in and are accessible via the Te Henui walkway that we are on everyday as we walk the dogs.
Yesterday we also visited the TSB Bowls Museum which is a museum dedicated to the sport of lawn bowling. While we learned a bit about the history of the game and got to see some trophies, uniforms, and balls, it wasn’t set up to teach you about the game so we’re still in the dark about rules, etc. We need to stop in one of the many bowling clubs around and talk to a local.
Our out-of-town excursions have taken us to two smaller towns in the area — Eltham (population @ 2,000) and Inglewood (population @ 3,200). Eltham is known for its vintage stores, an art gallery, a cheese shop (awesome cheese!), and an arty loo (yes, a decorated public restroom). It was a bit cold and windy that day, so we spent our time popping in and out of each of the places listed above (including the public restroom). I (Beth) got a great wool sweater at a consignment store for $2 NZ or @ $1.30 USD!, and we purchased a lovely blue cheese and an herbed brie at the cheese store. Also spoke with a lot of nice merchants in the art gallery and stores as it was a slow retail day for them.
We had a more active day a couple of days ago in Inglewood. Here we visited a local toy museum, did a 4.5K walk outside of town, and stopped in at a local cafe. The toy museum is dedicated to the history of Fun Ho toys. This was a New Zealand-based company that started in Wellington before moving to Inglewood and was focused on making toy versions of NZ type vehicles, first molded from lead and then sand.
(“Fun” fact about Inglewood and this museum: The prior week, when we had originally planned to go to Inglewood, we heard on the evening news that the toy museum had received a bomb threat. The museum and much of the downtown area were then evacuated until the museum could be searched and confirmed safe! We asked the worker at the museum about this, and it appears that it was a prank call — from overseas somewhere.)
Peckish Travels 