Wanganui to New Plymouth

Another hot and sunny day dawned and we were up and off fairly early having decided to take the coast road. We did have to go back into town to try the dress on, which highly unfortunately did not fit. 

We found the coast road fairly easily,but it proved to be a misnomer as it really didn't go very close to the coast at all.

We did find a lunch spot at Opunake on the beach. The spot was lovely but was spoilt by a cold wind and some local youths drinking on the beach in a no liquor spot. In the afternoon we visited several small beaches all uninhabited and at one narrowly missed seeing some Orca whales. We were told three whales had been seen from the beach swimming a few hundred yards out. However we were unable to see them at all. 

We did find a pair of flip flops for Andy on one beach apparently abandoned by their previous owner.

Andy was truly delighted that they were his size. We arrived in New Plymouth and found our room fairly easily. 

The excitement began when we had to find a supermarket to get necessary supplies. The expedition navigator got a bit teasy with Andy when he wouldn't follow her directions, but we did eventually find a supermarket and after that an outdoor shop for Andy to investigate.

The next thing was for all of us to find the beach so that Andy could go fishing. This required directions from the receptionist on the camp site and we found it very easily. Sally, the expedition manager and me all went for a walk along the famous New Plymouth boardway, which isn't a true boardway at all, being made of giant concrete slabs. 

We started by walking east away from Andy and after a kilometre or two we retraced our steps and walked back to see Andy, before walking westward back to our campsite. This took as slightly longer than we had thought due to the paucity of the map provided. We eventually found our way home worrying that Andy might have given up fishing and returned before us. Luckily he had not.

Another good meal and a bottle of wine followed by a fairly early  night marked the end of a really pleasant day.