So Monday morning of Week 3 saw an early start as heading over to the other side of the country….
When looking at the map to get to Napier I had two main options, one windy one up through the hills or one through Palmerston North. The latter would mean I would be doing that same route in reverse a few days later and as I had no agenda decided on the hilly one.
I was so glad I did! It was stunning! One of those ones where it felt like every corner was something new, special and beautiful. Around one corner in particular I actually gasped as you could see Mt Ruapehu towering in the distance with its snow on the top. Something I hadn’t been able to see because of the the cloud a few days before, despite being much closer.
In to Napier and then off to find a campsite. “I’ll make sure you’re away from the kids playground” she said kindly, not letting me in on the fact that flight path I would be camped under the flight path! It’s quite interesting I have found with the different campsites and the dynamics, whether people talk to you or not. I have touched on this before on my Facebook page and so do my best to say hello first, but was not feeling a great deal of love from this site!
A couple of nights, and then heading on down the coast, peeked in to a couple of campsites but weren’t quite what I was after, and so carried on driving to a beautiful spot, Kairakau, close to the sea and with really friendly campers. Saying that they are more than just campers, the sites are large, and everyone else has them filled with big tents, caravans, campervans, shelters rigged up, and then there is me, in my big space with my little tent and car! But hey we are happy! If it was planes at the last place, at this place it is tractors as your wake up call, with boats attached heading out to fish or check the crayfish pots!
My one full day there saw the rain set in, but still saw me heading out down the beach for a walk to Waterfall Bay which went eventually found, was beautiful, and you can hear more about that escapade here!
The previous night the couple next to me had helped move a picnic table on to my spot as easier with the gas stove. Except mine started smoking a little and making a nasty smell so had to abandon that, and trust me boil in a bag rice takes a little while to cook in water that has once boiled and is no longer still boiling!
Anyhoo came back from my walk, slightly bedraggled and there was something in front of my tent. The same couple had left that morning while I was out on the walk and left me their gas stove and a spare canister. How amazing are people! And then…. someone gave me a piece of fresh trevally and precious I had been given a couple of mattresses to borrow once they saw my camping mat! That was a serious gratitude day!
That night was a particularly soggy night, but the tent did me proud and in the morning the sun shone and wind blew and so quickly packed up my dry tent and on the road again.
I had taken recommendations from people at the site because they would know the kind of place I was looking for. So after a fair old drive found me at Cape Palliser, well a campsite just before. So now down at the bottom of the country a few headlands around from Wellington.
Set up tent, sweet as, cooked dinner, no problem, snuggled in to bed and then the wind blew……
At the previous campsite a lady there had said rain is fine Liz its when the wind gets up you have to worry….
I could see what she meant! You know it’s really bad when you are lying there and the side of the tent blows in so hard it smothers your face!
In and out the tent tightening the guy ropes, banging the pegs in harder, moving the car to try and shelter me a bit more, wondering why I hadn’t thought that the exposed part on the side of a mountain may not have been my best idea…. But got to see the stars! Which I haven’t so much recently maybe because of cloud, and wow they were stunning! Spent a lot of time talking my tent through the night! It worked, still in one piece in the morning!
Anyway by morning it was all calm and sunny again, only the bags under my eyes telling the story of the night before! See it’s not all rosy when living the dream!
Was given a more sheltered spot for Night number 2, but of course not a breath of wind that night! The campsite is in such an amazing spot because as the sun set I could see the headland of Wellington in the far distance to the right, and the South Island with the sun setting over it in front of me.
Great afternoon up at the Cape Palliser Lighthouse, all 252 steps, and then was sat in the communal area back at the campsite when a lady came up to me and said “are you staying here?”
So I said I was and she asked what it was like and then went on to explain that they had come out for a drive to the lighthouse and realised they didn’t have enough petrol to get back. (I did take comfort that it is not just me… Have a read of my previous escapade here with petrol, or lack of it!)
Anyway we got chatting while the owner was sorting the petrol out, and by the end of the conversation she said “Well here is my address if you are ever in need of a bed in Auckland for a night let me know.” How amazing are people!
They were sorted and then an early night ready for the ferry trip tomorrow…..
