Day 290 (Mon 23 Apr) - Plimmertown
Before leaving Napier Jo phoned her sister in London. She only just managed to catch her before she went to bed. We will never get used to the time difference!
Left Napier and followed Highway 2 preparing us for the mammoth five hour drive ahead of us heading towards Wellington.
As we traveled South we saw a massive range of hills/mountains ahead of us (Hutt valley). Thought we might skirt these but no the road steadily climbed up and over them. Quite magnificent, although a tricky road to drive on.
On the other side of the hills we decided to take a detour to take in a gorge. We travelled for about a km on a sealed road that gave way to a very bumpy and steep unsealed road. Decided to give the gorge a miss and performed a U-turn much admired by some pigs nearby that had come over for a look. Got some good views of the surrounding countryside though.
Drove over these hills and into the small village of Plimmertown nestling by an inlet. Found the Moana Lodge and parked up. Hit a slight snag when we tried to enter through the garden and into the office. This snag probably weighed about 30 odd kilos , was the size of a shetland pony with a very shaggy coat. Everytime we touched the garden gate this monster of a dog would turn to us and rumble a bark. Sarb had a quick look at it and decided that it was more dopey than anything else and urged Jo to just wander in. We did and the dog basically looked at us with sad eyes, offered a half hearted bark and shuffled off.
Checked into the very comfortable lodge and found our room to be excellent. Chatted to the owner who said that he was looking after the dog for a friend. Said dog was called Cloey.
Unpacked and then went for a walk along the jetty where we watched a beautiful sunset.
Headed back to the lodge where we prepared a steak dinner. Got chatting to Sonja, a German girl who was hoping to get a job and stay for a while in NZ.
Over dinner we also got chatting to Danni, an Israeli off on a years travels, Pia and Carlo, a German couple hoping to emigrate to NZ and Arnau an Austrian.
Really friendly people as we stayed up late chatting in the very comfortable lounge.
Left Napier and followed Highway 2 preparing us for the mammoth five hour drive ahead of us heading towards Wellington.
As we traveled South we saw a massive range of hills/mountains ahead of us (Hutt valley). Thought we might skirt these but no the road steadily climbed up and over them. Quite magnificent, although a tricky road to drive on.
On the other side of the hills we decided to take a detour to take in a gorge. We travelled for about a km on a sealed road that gave way to a very bumpy and steep unsealed road. Decided to give the gorge a miss and performed a U-turn much admired by some pigs nearby that had come over for a look. Got some good views of the surrounding countryside though.
Drove over these hills and into the small village of Plimmertown nestling by an inlet. Found the Moana Lodge and parked up. Hit a slight snag when we tried to enter through the garden and into the office. This snag probably weighed about 30 odd kilos , was the size of a shetland pony with a very shaggy coat. Everytime we touched the garden gate this monster of a dog would turn to us and rumble a bark. Sarb had a quick look at it and decided that it was more dopey than anything else and urged Jo to just wander in. We did and the dog basically looked at us with sad eyes, offered a half hearted bark and shuffled off.
Checked into the very comfortable lodge and found our room to be excellent. Chatted to the owner who said that he was looking after the dog for a friend. Said dog was called Cloey.
Unpacked and then went for a walk along the jetty where we watched a beautiful sunset.
Headed back to the lodge where we prepared a steak dinner. Got chatting to Sonja, a German girl who was hoping to get a job and stay for a while in NZ.
Over dinner we also got chatting to Danni, an Israeli off on a years travels, Pia and Carlo, a German couple hoping to emigrate to NZ and Arnau an Austrian.
Really friendly people as we stayed up late chatting in the very comfortable lounge.
posted by Jo and Sarb at
4/23/2007 01:03:00 am
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