Friday, November 10, 2017

November 10, 2017 - to Wellington

Today we left Whanganui and drove south along the coast with Wellington as our final destination.  We are catching the ferry tomorrow morning from Wellington and moving to the south island.  Cindy did a bunch of searching for things to do along the coast and found a hiking trail that looked tough, but interesting. 

We made a few stops along the way, before reaching our hike's starting point in Paekakariki.

We stopped at a playground.  Cindy almost got stuck.

We spotted this in Levin.  It is a visitors information center.
Our hike was a tough one.  10 kilometers long.  Lots of elevation (700' at the highest point, sea level at the lowest) with lots of ups and downs in-between.  Over 1500 stair-steps, according the info about this trail.  Two suspension bridges.  Plus, it was on a VERY steep hillside.  Cindy picked a great way to spend 4 hours of our day!

The warning sign about the dangers and difficulty

Heading into a treed section.  It was like being in a tunnel

Quite a variety of terrain was encountered during this hike

It was a steep cliff to the left of this rope.


Lots of stairs.  Over 1500 steps according to the info we read.
Coming up on a suspension bridge.

Did I mention it was steep?

Look how small the car on the road looks.
 This hike had a lot of elevation changes along the way.

One of the suspension bridges on this 10 kilometer hike.  Great views.
Only 1 more kilometer to go, 9 are done.

Once you have completed the hike you can either turn around and go back, or you can hop on a nice, modern electric train for a quick trip back.  We chose the train.  The end of the trail is in a town called Pukeria, which we had not been to yet.  We did not know where the train station was so we needed to find it.  Finding it is a bit like going on a treasure hunt.  Here are the instructions at the end of the trail to guide you to the train station.

Wow, this would not be easy if we hadn't taken a picture of it.


One of the only clues to help you find the train station.


Beautiful mural on the side of an old (abandoned)
train stop.

The train was crowded with kids.  We think it was a field trip.

We had to stand.  The scenery was very nice, as this train went right
along the coast.

Getting off the train back near our car in Paekakariki

View of one of the suspension bridges from the road below, as we drove by.

Pirate's mini golf in Porirua New Zealand

More mini golf

While playing golf we saw the train go by

Another playground.  This one in Wellington.

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