New Plymouth

Pouring with rain when we wake up, and it rained most of the 5 hour drive up the coast.  We stopped in at Paraparaumu to show Caz and Sue where we would have played.  We stopped at Whanganui where we had lunch.  We could see the sunshine in the distance as we approached New Plymouth - it was soooooo exciting!

New Plymouth is on the West Coast.  The city itself is a service centre for the region's principal economic activities including intensive dairy farming as well as oil, natural gas and petrochemical exploration and production. It is also the region's financial centre as the home of the TSB Bank (formerly the Taranaki Savings Bank), the largest of the remaining non-government New Zealand-owned banks. 

Notable features are the botanic garden (i.e. Pukekura Park), the critically acclaimed Len Lye Centre and Art Gallery, the 13 km (8.1 mi) New Plymouth Coastal Walkway alongside the Tasman Sea, the Len Lye-designed 45-metre-tall (148 ft) artwork known as the Wind Wand, Paritutu Rock, and views of Mount Taranaki.

Our house for the next few days, greatly discounted as a last minute booking is in the Beach village of Oakura. It is at the base of Mount Taranaki which is the snowy mountain in the header of this page.  We only got a glimpse of it yesterday - no snow, but most of the time in the clouds.

We had a great nights rest, the sun was shining everyone was well and the cyclone had passed.  New Zealand North Island was starting to heal.  We decided to try the local course which is 5 minutes down the road.  it is called Kaitake Golf Club, when I phoned to do the booking, the scottish lady that answered, thought it was hilarious that I wanted to book.  She humoured me and said come around 10:30am!  So we got ready for a game of golf in the sunshine. $25 green fee as opposed to the $750 at Cape Kidnappers.  We lost fewer balls and had a good time.  Suzie smashed it strategically playing the Par Bisque comp well winning with +4 and John in a very close second with +3.  Caz and I were the support crew.

Ha ha, when choosing the carts, there was the aged grey one and the very flashy blue one.  Caz really really wanted the blue one.  I think here we go, she will be hooning around again.  Fate intervened, speed delimiting wasn't invented when our cart was made, so we could hoon around and Caz and Sue had to drive in the School Zone all day - hee hee.

Down to the beach, to have a lookee see.    The beaches have black sand, it is as fine as the sand we get at home, very black and sparkly.  The black sand found on the west coast of the North Island, is made of titanomagnetite – a mixture of titanium and iron. This soft material comes from Mount Taranaki and is swept up the coast as far as North Cape – a distance of about 400 km – ground into rounder and finer grains as it goes.

Then off scooting along the 12km coastal walk.  I have to say that the Blip scooter renting process was rather disappointing but we eventually got going and then had an hour of sun in our eyes, wind in our hair and the distant tune of Caz's scooter bell ringing melodically everytime someone was in her vicinity!

Today it was a lazy start to the day, we had a leisurely tee time at 12:50pm at New Plymouth Golf Club.  When we arrived the place was chokka, they had their Club Champs on, the field moved really well and we played at a good pace.  I was very glad that we were in carts, it was a very hilly course.  Quite tricky  with lots of raised greens, pot bunkers and wind as it is right on the ocean.  It is ranked No 17 on the NZ Courses, but the fairways had been affected by the severe rains that they had about a month ago.  The Comp of the day was 4BBB and we drew for partners at home - it was Caz and I versus John and Suzie.

Winners on the day were Shaz and Caz, shooting 33 and 31 points respectively.    Spag Bol ala Caz and Salad ala Sue, a good nights rest.  We caught up on the news and the recovery from Cyclone Gabriella, it is heartbreaking to see what people are going through and be so close.  We absolutely made the right decision not to go to Napier.  John was up early to watch a disappointing result with Newcastle being beaten by Liverpool.  Then we went to play the lovely Kaitake again,  comp of the day was Mystery partner multiplier - Shaz drew Caz as her partner and were winners.

We then set off to Taupo.  We were all so pleased with the diversion and replanning, we absolutely loved the area and highly recommend it to anyone visiting for Surf, beaches, equestrian, golf, culture and serenity.  Just lovely.