A lovely night of sleep in our campervan! Wow, I'm impressed by how comfy that thing really is. Had a nice hot shower and some breakfast while Wendy talked with our camping neighbor Krommers about the ferry crossing in Wellington. We had hoped to grab the ferry today but looks like the last one leaves at 2 p.m. and we would definitely not make it. Not to worry! Plenty of driving to do and sights to enjoy.
More driving, Wendy behind the wheel. We drove along the Tongariro National Park, views of Mt. Ngauruhoe, Mt. Tongariro and Mt. Ruapehu flanked by complete desert. It was otherworldly, driving along the flat terrain of brown scrubby vegetation, total desert environment, with gigantic mountains rising out of the ground in an instant. So, I think it's Mt. Ruapehu that is Mt. Doom in Lord of the Rings but I could be wrong...whatever its name, it's this tall volcano and it is awesome!
So we finally hit a straight, flat road with literally NOTHING around. It felt like a different planet, such a humbling experience. And outta nowhere, a cop approached at a fast speed, made a U-turn on the road still going like 40 kmh and flipped on his lights. RATS!!! Wendy got a speeding ticket by Mt. Doom!!! Krommers drove past us while we were stopped, he hit his breaks, checked his rearview mirror and saw it was us, and that was the last we saw of him.
Wendy, the poor gal, was so bummed out about the ticket. I tried to cheer her up but to no avail. We kept driving, the landscape changed into much steeper pastures for plenty of sheep (soooo many sheep, but still no good yarn shops!! What's a knitter to do?).
Eventually we hit the eastern coast and decided to take a side trip just to check out Peka Peka beach, with nice views of Kapiti Island. Driving on the beach is allowed here, and succulents grow on the dunes. Cool!
We finally got to Wellington and the roads became more congested. The rocky coastline was gorgeous, again with the road right on the cliffs to the water. No room for error!
We ended up at a Top 10 Holiday Park, kinda like a K.O.A. campground. Not my favorite, but it was close to the Interislander Ferry we would take tomorrow, and we were kinda grumpy from the long drive. Driving in NZ is different than in the U.S., you can only drive maybe four hours before getting super worn out. Extremely curvy, small roads with cliffs, no shoulder, plus just driving on the opposite side and trying to navigate will wear a girl out! By the time we hit the overcast city of Wellington, we were ready to be outta that van!
The campground had an awesome "jumping pillow" that Wendy got photos and video of us jumping on, check out her blog! It's essentially like a huge rubber tarp that is attached to the ground and filled with air so you can jump on it. The two of us got out our driving aggressions by acting like kids on it, LOL!!! It was the best thing we did all day!! I want my very own jumping pillow now.
We did some laundry, I taught Wen to knit and we pretty much called it a day. Not our most exciting, but it got us where we needed to be to start exploring the South Island!!! YAY!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment