Thunderbirds are go!

Wellington put on quite a show for the final two days of our North Island road trip. The weather played its part with sunny skies and light winds.  We also got lucky with a last minute change of hotel.  I used some loyalty points to book us into the Doubletree by Hilton. This is a new venue.  It opened last year in a restored colonial building directly opposite the Wellington Cable Car station.

Thanks to my Gold Hilton Honors membership the hotel upgraded us to a spacious corner room that was pure decadence.  My status also gave us a free breakfast each morning which proved to be an impressive daily buffet.  We also received a couple of free drink coupons.  For a free room, we certainly felt rewarded for our loyalty!

Our first full day in town was spent riding the Cable Car up to Kelburn where spent an hour or more exploring the Cable Car Museum.  I can't recall visiting this attraction before but it proved to be an interesting insight into the history of Wellington's early suburban development and the public transport that enabled it.

A leisurely road tour along the city's coastal roads eventually led us to our lunch destination.  We bought Fish & Chips from Huckle & Co in Seatoun and spent an hour relaxing on the harbour foreshore at the nearby Wahine Memorial Park.  The fish was as fresh as you can get it.  We literally watched the chef fillet it before tossing into the deep fryer.

We then spent the afternoon at Weta Cave, the home of Peter Jackson's famous special effect studio.  We booked the classic behind the scenes tour and followed this with its Thunderbirds set tour.  Both tours were fascinating.  We learnt how Jackson created many of the special effects that made his Lord of Ring trilogy so epic; before getting up close and personal with its Thunderbirds miniature sound stage.

Our final day in town was devoted to a leisurely morning of shopping before making our way to the airport via the Mount Victoria lookout.  The view from the summit was as stunning as ever.  Wellington really does sparkle in the sunshine.  Before we knew it, our flight was boarding and our vacation was well and truly over.

Manukura the white kiwi

We stopped for two nights after leaving New Plymouth before finally reaching Wellington. Our first night was spent in Palmerston North after a long drive around Cape Egmont.  We stopped several times to enjoy the scenery including a sunny break at the Cape Egmont lighthouse.  The lighthouse is now fully automated but its location on a small hillock overlooking the Tasman Sea was truly magnificent. 

Our second night was spent on the outskirts of Martinborough.  This was a last minute change to our itinerary that ultimately proved to be another highlight from our North Island road trip.  We made our way south from Palmerston North via Mt Bruce.  My brother recommended we stop in at the Pūkaha National Wildlife Centre. 

We’ve couldn’t have asked for a better recommendation.  The centre is well laid out and gave us some exception wildlife spotting opportunities.  Here we saw the fattest native eels we’d ever seen swimming in a stream, got up close with a Tuatara and spotted a host of native birds includingTui, Whio, Kaks and Wood Pigeons.  However, the highlight of our visit was the Kiwi House where we saw Manukura, the world’s only captive white kiwi.

We then made our way to Martinborough for a special wine tasting session at the famous Atarangi winery.  Its McCrone Block Pinot Noir is undoubtedly one of the world’s finest expressions of this particular varietal. Again, the highlight of our day was most unexpected.  We stumbled upon Greytown, just ten minutes from Martinborough. 

This quaint country town has been beautifully restored to reflect the best of late 19^th Century architecture.  Its bustling cafes and shops proved incredibly inviting.  So much so that we returned the next morning to spend a few hours wandering the main street.

New Plymouth

New Plymouth proved to be the perfect place to relax, unwind and see in the New Year.  Sadly, low cloud-shrouded Mt Taranaki the entire time we were there so we never did get to enjoy the city’s iconic backdrop.  However, as luck would have it, the hotel we booked proved to be one of those rare finds that transforms a dot on the map into a true vacation highlight.  We’d definitely stay here again!

 We stayed at the Nice Hotel which included a fine dining restaurant called Table.  The hotel was a classic upmarket boutique experience.  The owner, Terry, was warm and friendly.  Nothing was too much trouble.  We were upgraded to a private suite complete with our own vine-shaded outdoor patio that looked over a sunny, sheltered, sub-tropical outdoor space.  We spent more than one afternoon enjoying cheese and nibbles surrounded by waving palms, goldfish ponds and bird song.

Garry and I ultimately ate at Table every night. Terry also slotted us into the guest list for a huge party that the hotel hosted on New Year’s Eve.  We wined and dined and partied in 2019 with several hundred guests, a live band and an appropriately kilted bag-pipe player.

We did venue out of the hotel a few times to explore the city and its art galleries.  We also walked a fair stretch of New Plymouth’s popular coastal pathway. This stretches along its waterfront for more than 8kms. Everywhere we looked the Metrosideros Excelsa was in full bloom (that’s Pōhutukawa to you common folk) and the city’s famous Wind Wand kinetic sculpture silently waved its way north.