Friday 4 March – to Wellington

We left Taupo for Wellington, and the next stage of my adventure, around 1pm – Leigh, Dan and I.

Dan and Leigh planned to meet up with Dan’s son, Craig, who lives in Wellington. We were going to stay a couple of nights with Gilly, an old friend of Leigh’s.

Taupo Lake looked absolutely stunning as we left it behind for the mountains.  It had taken on a hue of deep cobalt blues and turquoises I had not yet seen on this trip.  Leigh said the wind on the surface was a contributory factor.

The sparse vegetation on the desert road took on a beauty of its own not seen in the spring when I was here before.  The tussocks in seed looked like acres of soft hay ready for gathering and the road was lined with purple heather interspersed with clumps of frothy golden Toitoi reaching up against a back cloth of navy blue mountain range.  There was only the smallest evidence of snow near the summit.

We stopped occasionally on the long journey for me to take photos and for a bite to eat.   We spent some time looking round The Wool Company where they sold Merino and Possom wool in large skeins and gorgeous colours.  I just wished I had a pattern for quantity.

We continued on through scenic hilly areas, fairly flat farmland and fertile fruit-growing land, stopping only once again at a liquor store for essentials, before finally hitting the coast as we neared Wellington.

By this time the sun was going down over the harbour and we pulled in to a shopping complex to stock up with grocery items for the next couple of days with Gilly.

Gilly welcomed us at her front door in Newlands and soon we were sitting round her table chatting over a very large amount of fish and chips takeaway we had brought in – not cod as we would normally have at home, but shark!!  ….and of course the G&Ts!