Fairytale Playground, Distant Relatives and a Friendly Hostel

04Jul08
Turangi to Palmerston North, via Wanganui

This morning it was still raining some with heavy clouds. We debated about heading west to the Mt Taranaki region, but after looking at the forecast (rain and more rain) we decided to skip it and just head south to Wellington. We drove past the Tongariro mountains and saw some snow, but all the mountain tops were hidden in clouds.



So we did a short walk to a waterfall and kept going. This is an area I really wanted to see and do some tramping in – so we will have to come back here someday in the summer!



We took the route south to Wanganui which turned out to be a fantastic drive down a river canyon. A very windy road, but very scenic (and apparently a real pain for the road crew to maintain). And the town of Wanganui was cute enough – the real gem being a fairytale-themed playground! We had to run around and explore it :)



Then it was back in the car to Palmerston North and a hostel for the night. The hostel was nice enough, but the owners (who lived in back) were strange, and all the guests acted weird and unfriendly because of it. Oh well...


05Jul08
Palmerston North to Plimmerton

This morning we called up Justin's sister-in-law's cousin, Robyn, who lives in Palmerston North. And fortunately even though we called at such short notice they were home and generously had us round for lunch. We had a nice afternoon chatting with Robyn and her family – while it clouded up and sleeted outside! Her boys were very excited :)



Afterwards we drove south to Wellington, but as most of the hostels were booked up for a big rugby game, we ended up staying just north of the city in a town called Plimmerton. We completely lucked out – the hostel we choose by chance turned out to be fantastic and became one of our favorites. Right on the oceanfront, a room with a view AND a fantastic kitchen, giant six-burner stove and all. Good thing we couldn't move in!

The owners were quite friendly and we talked about world travels -in particular they had been through Dubai recently, but they hadn't really liked it. Also, the big rugby match was on tonight, so the hostel was fairly empty. Plus a big storm had closed all the mountain roads and several guests were having trouble getting to the hostel.

That night we chatted with a very hip and affable German guy who was in NZ on a working holiday for a year. Strangely enough, at home he had worked for a company that makes sheet laminates – ie. the fake-wood stuff on the particle-board furniture. I just always find it amusing to be reminded that companies like that exist – someone has to do it. Especially since I've noticed that the fake-wood furniture in NZ is made to look like native NZ hardwood. That $10 bookcase comes in “Rimu” instead of “Oak” here. Regional fake-wood is not something I'd ever thought about before!
There were also two German guys who were friendly but very shy and nerdy. They were scheduled to make the ferry crossing in the morning and were nervous about the bad weather reports. Both were touring NZ for about 6 weeks before going home to start university.

Tongariro and drive south photoset
Wanganui playground photoset
Palmerston North photoset