The South West Coast of the North

Where is Forrest Now?

I left Wellington after a week of relaxing and waiting to hear about jobs.  Had one little talk with Beca, a large engineering consulting firm, but they just did a massive intake of entry level engineers.  Summer is just starting here and it seems as if I've missed all the big hires of graduate engineers.  There's still hope though, as vacancies are coming up frequently.

   

My plate of chicken, sprouted beans and roti.  Yummy!

Joshna's fruit store.  Yummy!

In Wellington I stayed with my Mom's friend Joshna who runs a small fruit shop in the central business district (CBD) of Wellington.  It's a super cool store and their selection of fresh fruit and veggies was great.  Plus, Joshna would bring home tons of fruit that wouldn't sell... delicious kiwi fruit and navel oranges and even some mangoes.  MMMmmmmmmmm.

Whats more, we would go over to Joshna's parents' house, some of the most welcoming people I've ever met.  Joshna's Mum would cook delicious indian food most nights and taught me to eat with my fingers.  I went fishing with her dad for herring, but had no luck.  Seems like the Wellington harbour has been quite fished over.  Wellington sure was a cool city with tons of little bays to explore and massive expanses of forested hills.  The national museum is in Wellington - Te Papa - which is free and was a good refresher on NZ history.  The Carter Observatory was particularly interesting as well, as I learned about the southern night sky and especially the remarkable navigational feats of the Polynesians.  Star constellations were particularly important for them, and expert navigators knew where in the Pacific they were, based on the location of constellations rising in the sky.  Thus, they could sail north or south and know when to stop and turn directly east or west to hit land.  They knew how to spot the land from far off by how certain sea birds were acting and the way the clouds looked in the sky - hence, New Zealand's name - Aotearoa - Land of the Long White Cloud.

View of downtown Wellington from Oriental Bay

Upon leaving Wellington, I quickly found out that the wind was not in my favour.  For 4 days I battled the headwind until I rounded Cape Egmont, the western cape of the North Island.  The first night, after battling not just a headwind but Friday afternoon Wellington traffic, I made it to a small town, Paekakariki, and camped in a little reserve in the town.  Beautiful spot overlooking the sea with waves crashing below me.  I didn't spend much time at the site, however, as I found out the village hall that night was bursting with music and fun.  There were 3 bands playing; a great guitarist playing harmonica and singing the blues accompanied by a drum set, a Cuban-Kiwi reggaeton singer, and a local ska band.  Folks of all ages - kids and grandparents - were there dancing the night away and drinking locally brewed beer and sangria.

Mt Taranaki and grazing sheep.  Around the volcano, dairy cows are the more common sight.

New Plymouth, with its power plant and shipping port on the left, Mt Taranaki in the distance, and great surfing beaches around the cape to the right.

I pushed off again, reasonably early, and battled the headwind through fields of sheep, veggies, but mostly dairy cows.  The busy road took me far from the beach, and it wasn't until I passed through the town of Whanganui that the volcanoes became clear.  At one point, I could see both Mt. Ruapehu and Mt. Taranaki through the haze on the horizon, but as I neared Taranaki, it became clearer and clearer.  The land was flat, with the only real hills being large decents into river gullys followed by long uphill pushes, usually into the wind.  Ouch.

Calving is over and these inquisitive guys are growing up quick!

The wind blowing off the Tasman Sea was a solid 35km/hr, with gusts up to 45 or so.  It was hard going.  Passing trucks were welcomed by their momentary wind relief, the closer they passed by me, the bigger the relief!  But by the time I got to the Surf Highway-the road that goes around Taranaki next to the sea-I quickly forgot about the wind and thought about the beaches I was passing (and the Packer game I was gonna get to see that night in New Plymouth).  Apparently, the beaches around here - some of them black sand beaches - have some of the best surfing in New Zealand.  Mountain and surf-sounds like a great life to me!  I found a bar with the Packers in New Plymouth, a nice irish bar.  Unfortunately the game was rather forgettable, but at least the Guinness was quite tasty!

I've spent the past 2 days in New Plymouth checking out the city and getting to know the area a little bit.  Unfortunately didn't make it to hike up Taranaki as the top is still quite covered with snow and ice.  But the town is beautiful (~50,000ppl) with large parks, an award winning coastal path (the signs are the most descriptive I've ever seen - like science posters in their description of the area and how the ecology works), a kite surfing beach, great bakeries and indian food... I think I'll have to stop there.  I've given too much away.

I'm headed off now to the Forgotten Worlds Highway and on to Lake Taupo.  Enjoy my pictures on the new album, and if you ever want to see where I am on the road, check out my map of NZ - Where's Forrest? and follow my travels day-by-day with pictures and commentary.