Day 12 February 13th Hamilton to New Plymouth



 

Raglan harbour

Today we move onto New Plymouth and it dawned again a glorious, sunny day.  We breakfasted, packed and were away quite early (for us on holiday!).  We left Hamilton having not really explored the city but enjoyed places around it.  We decided to head for the coast at Raglan - a resort famous for surfing.  We went through some pretty typical New Zealand countryside with the pasture for the catlle and sheep largely dying because of the heat.   When we arrived in Raglan the tide was out with no surfing evident and so we walked around a bit observing youngsters hanging out in coffee shops and then decided to visit the local natural attraction called Bridal Veil Falls.  It was a spectacular 55 metre waterfall and we climbed from the top to the bottom and back up again.

We had a snack lunch at the car and then started the fairly long drive to New Plymouth.  We passed through some very pleasant farmland, through reserves, over rivers and for some distance we were in sight of the sea.   Eventually as we approached the city we could make out the distinctive shape of Mount Egmont (Manganui).  We soon found our accommodation and managed to find the carpark and get our luggage up to our room.  We went to a local restaurant for dinner and retired fairly early.





Mount Egmont