I couldn't have asked or a better time away. We got through out list of places to see and things to do. We even had the unexpected surprise of finding some snow to play in (along with a lot of other New Zealanders too). The cottage we stayed in was cute and set on a local artist's property. She had vege gardens outside our door that we could help ourselves to as we wanted, and around the back of the cottage there was a lovely view of the mountain (sadly, not from our windows!).
Our first day travelling had us stopping for lunch with some friends, before heading on into New Plymouth for the evening.
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| Car snacks all packed and ready to go! |
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| Kids found the trampoline straight away. |
Day 2 we headed out around 10am, and because the weather was quite mild, we planned to visit a local botanical garden and petting zoo.
A quick lunch back at our cottage, and then headed out for the afternoon to meet up with another lot of friends down at the local aquatic centre for the afternoon.
Day 3 we decided to visit a couple of the historic cottages in the area - unfortunately, both were only open on the weekends (managed a visit to the museum too), but we noticed snow falling on our windscreen as we were driving along. I then received a text from my friend we'd had lunch with a few days before to say they'd had a huge dump of snow overnight. I then texted (yay for mobile phones!) another friend who lived just out of New Plymouth and asked her about the status of snow out her way. Nothing at her house, but since she lives on the road leading towards the mountain, we thought we'd go back to the cottage, have a quick lunch, then pack our snow gear into the car and go for a drive to see what we could find. As we got to the village where the road turned into the mountain, there was a large sign saying the road was closed and only residents could go beyond that point ... well, we figured we could pose as residents if required ... and we weren't the only ones with that idea.
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| Snow on the windscreen lol. |
On our way back from having a good play, we stopped in with our friends and found hot soup and a cup of tea waiting for us along with some animals to pat and feed.
Day 4 we wanted to check out the coastal walkway, so took the scooters out for a while before heading home for lunch. We then hit the shops in the afternoon for a quick browse.
Day 5 we packed to head home. We had planned to stop in with our friends from the pools for a play at their house and to visit the Pioneer Village in their town before heading home to my parent's house for dinner. The snow from 2 days before was still scattered around.
We all had loads of fun, and it felt nicely spaced out where it was enjoyable as well as relaxing.
2 comments:
LOVE the pics. Make me a bit homesick;-)
Yes, we were really taken with the area and all it has on offer, as well as not being too far from Wgtn and Hamilton.
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