See the Tasman Sea

Trip Start Sep 01, 2008

Trip End Sep 23, 2008

Loading Map

Map your own trip!

Map Options

Show trip route

Hide lines

Where I stayed

Cottage by the Sea

(New Plymouth hotels)

Flag of New Zealand New Plymouth, North Island, New Zealand
Saturday, September 20, 2008

We started out our day thinking we would head on north and see where we would stay for the night...our goal was at least to get to New Plymouth. Our first thought was breakfast so we ask at our hotel for a recommendation and headed there. It was good enough and they were a Pepsi account. All the better.
As we started our trek for the day we are feeling like we have come to the end of our sightseeing and how could we possibly top what we have seen or done thus far. It will be hard. At one little town, Waimarie, we spot a Saturday market and stop to stroll. We end up stopping a short while later on the highway and taking pictures of sheep grazing on the hillsides. When the animals graze on the hills, they leave these ridges along the sides of the hills. Today, when the sun was shining on them, the greens of the grass, with the blue sky and white clouds behind, they were very lovely to see.

We stop for lunch in another little town, Opunake, in a little hippy restaurant

Beautiful Sky, et al

. The diversity here is no different than in the states. You never know when you walk in what you might find...but with a name like Sugar Juice Cafe, we should have known. The male cook is wearing a somewhat skirt - somewhat pants outfit. It looked like a skirt from the back, until you got to his knees and then it became pants! It went along very well with his toupee ponytail! On the wall across from Paul was a picture of Iman, the black model, not sure if I have her name correct...nude from the waist up! Who da thunk it!

We take an occasional detour from the main road in search of the beaches along the Tasman Sea. It is rather amazing that they design this road call the Surf Highway but then always seems to have either industry or homes or vegetation blocking your view.
So we head off the road a few times, one in particular was of interest. As we passed the local golf course, men and women were teeing off right by the road...but what makes it more interesting is that scattered throughout the greenway, sheep were grazing! Maybe it's their goal to not hit them, but I can't believe one has been whacked before. Paul's comment was "if one gets hit in the head, it won't make them any more stupid then they already are!" It puts a whole new meaning on the term shanking the ball!

I'm sheepish when it comes to golf

As we head into New Plymouth we decide we need to find a room with a view of the Sea. Well this turns out to be totally frustrating. The whole sea side of the city is only walkable, not used for the hotels and motels. One hotel has a view, but you still walk to the Sea. Throughout New Zealand there are places called I Sites...nearly every town has one and they are the information hub of that town. So we find the I Site and they find us a place out of town called the Cottage by the Sea. Well, we head out to have a look, feeling like we are possibly on a wild goose chase only to come upon this little piece of heaven tucked back off the road and right by the sea. There are only 3 cottages here and we have the one furthest from the main house with our own private view of the sea and, I am not kidding about this next part...this morning, the birds woke me up singing. It is that quiet and peaceful here. Magically beautiful. The perfect way to end our trip before we head toward the big city of Auckland.

After we walk out on the boulder-strewn black sand beach, we decide we need to figure out dinner. We are thinking, it is probably going to be wine and cheese in the room...because there is nothing around us - not a street light, not a car passing by, not a restaurant of any kind. But Paul asks the proprietor, Hugh, and he sends us down the road for dinner to a place called Waiau Estates. It is 5 minutes away and again we think...there is nothing here...then we turn the corner and into the driveway of this delightful little restaurant and winery. It is a small place and bustling with people. It appears to be a local favorite as well as the place to send tourists. Otherwise, you would never find it. Our dinner is delicious and our wine is very good. We headed back to organize our packing and write on the blog...only it's my turn and I am feeling quite brain fried and so head to bed...to finish in the morning.