Back by the sea again

Well, first of all I'm now on the west coast very near to a town called new plymouth at the moment. The drive here was amazing. I initially drove to taumaranui from the national park where I registered my new car! You do it at a post office and then they send the  paperwork on. I gave a hostel address at havelock on the south island as I catch the ferry from Wellington on the 15th! Did you know car insurance  is not compulsory over here and most people  don't bother! Anyway I decided on third party! Moving on! From taumaranui I picked up what they call the 'forgotten world highway'. It's a 155 kilometre drive of what they call the old heritage trail. It was just  incredible. Mountains and gorges and saddles and rivers. I had to stop and get out on one occasion to clear the road of rock that had fallen.  I'm not kidding! It was pretty hairy at times! And at one point the road changed from tarmac to gravel for 30 kilometres or so! Hard to describe, and a hard drive, but it was just beautiful. I could have taken pictures but decided I just didn't want to. I simply want to remember it! Mind you, the poor old car must be wondering what on earth its taken on! I've found a gem of a place to stay. It's a small coastal town called waitara and the campsite backs on to the beach. I know I've said it before but I just love the sea.  I don't know why but it's definitely something inside me. Maybe dad had the same feeling and that was where his initial yearning to actually go to sea came from. Strange isn't it, but in all the year's I sat and talked to him about his life I never really got into it with him.  I just feel more at peace beside the sea and yesterday I took my new chair onto the beach and just sat gazing out into the tasman sea for a couple of hours. I can also lie in bed here and hear the waves lapping! Had a walk along the  new plymouth prom earlier which I thoroughly enjoyed and now I"m sitting in the tourist information centre  because there's no wifi at the camp site and it's free here. And guess what?  I'm going to climb another mountain, well a volcano actually.  I just can't help myself. It's called mount Taranaki, about 35 minutes drive from where I'm staying. It's another one with snow on the top and runs to a little over 2500 metres. I'm also going to walk to what are called the white cliffs. Spectacular sea and mountain  views allegedly. So, probably leaving Saturday.  I can possibly get one more stop in on the way to Wellington for a couple of nights if I want a bit of time in Wellington itself before I go over. I'm staying in town for a bit tonight. New Plymouth holds an annual festival of lights in their park from the middle of December to the end of January. Apparently the lights are worth seeing and there's a band with a celtic influence performing from eight thirty. So I'm going to give that a whirl for an hour or so.

Not sure whether I will get the opportunity to blog again before I leave here but will if I can.

Couple of pics from my prom walk looking out into the tasman sea.

Take care,

Glen