New Plymouth

This is basically a driving holiday. We rented a car in Queenstown, headed south, then drove up the east coast of the South Island. Now we are working our way around the North Island, revisiting some favourite spots, and investigating other cities to perhaps add them to our list of favourites. But even though this is mostly a road trip, when we arrive in a new city, we park the car, and if possible, walk everywhere until it is time to leave for our next stop.

One of the interesting things about cities worldwide is that each one has a different balance between cars and pedestrians. In some cities, like Stockholm, if you look at something on the other side of the street, cars might stop to let you cross, even though you were just looking. In other cities, pedestrians take their life in their hands every time they cross the street, no matter what the traffic signs say. New Zealand is somewhere in the middle, though it does seem to lean toward benefiting drivers. In New Plymouth, the balance seems to be tilted even more toward drivers. The nearest coffee shop for our morning latte is half a block away, but it would be a three-block walk if I used legal crosswalks. And even when there is a crosswalk, cars might be given priority. Seriously!

Just in case you missed it, here is the sign on the crosswalk.

It just occurred to us that it might possibly mean that if there are pedestrians, the cars should give way. This is yet another instance where punctuation could save lives!

That having been said, once you head away from the roads, New Plymouth has much to offer. Two blocks from our hotel you can access the Coastal Walkway, which is a 13 km long paved path along the sea where you can listen to the waves crashing into the shore and enjoy the cool ocean breeze.

The scenery is varied along the walkway. This section brought back memories of the abandoned ochre mines in Provence.

The entire path is paved, but there are also sections where you can walk along the black sand beach if you want. Of course, we wanted…

I mentioned the driftwood on an earlier post. The storms here seem to bring in a lot of driftwood. Someone has been turning it into shelters, or perhaps sculptures. Here is one example.

There are also many stone sculptures in the city and along the walkway. This one represents a fallen leaf, curling up as it dries.

Here is another sculpture.

This next one is my favourite. It is hidden in the rock, and I nearly missed it.

Here is a closeup to give you a better view. So cute.

The Wind Wand (see yesterday’s post) is in the middle of the walkway, and it is very near our hotel. So first we walked one direction, stopping for a light lunch at a food stand to enjoy the food and the cool breeze in the shade. Jan was done for the day, but after a brief rest I decided to try the other direction. It was quite different.

It was high tide, so the waves were crashing onto the rocks.

I was also treated to views of Mount Taranaki, the stunning volcanic peak near New Plymouth. We drove past it yesterday, but it was overcast. There were still a few clouds today, but you can definitely see it here.

And of course, there were flowers, and because I’m me, I took pictures. I like this one because it shows the flower in three stages -the open flower, the dried flower, and the white seeds.