Mount Taranaki - Out there somewhere?

OK, so the more-hill-walking-plan didn't quite work out. The problem with having a high mountain near the sea is, of course, it pulls in water from the sea and so is frequently covered in cloud. As it was when we were there. We couldn't see it at all - and it's a BIG mountain! Impressively, having not rained at all in the area for 40 days (which, given the aforementioned geographical situation is a tad unusual), it rained the day we turned up! Perhaps Chris' potential new career as a rain maker is still a possibility.... Our time in New Plymouth was spent walking along less taxing routes instead. The first was a very pleasant woodland/river walk and on the way back we started chatting to a very nice local lady walking her (adorable and very friendly) retriever, so we tagged along with them for the rest of the walk. The 2nd was more forgettable, but we can't have great walks all the time!

We did discover a lot of biting things tho', so bought some more insect repellant in anticipation of them getting worse. Chris is rueing the lost opportunity to randomly slap Andy using the excuse of "there was a sand-fly biting you"......

Once again we'd found a really nice hostel to stay in, with a very nice room with another very comfy bed, and more friendly hostel-pets. This time Vincent the dog, who we didn't see a lot of but was very friendly when we did, and Jed the cat, who was the laziest cat we have ever met, but very friendly, so we were happy.

After 3 nights in New Plymouth we moved on, and happily Mount Taranaki put in an appearance this time - and it looked incredible. It was a case of "See what you could have won" as all we could do was take photos as we left, but it was great to see it. A very short distance later we arrived in Wanganui. We knew nothing about the town, but actually really liked it - it has a great mixture of river sports and plenty of parks and hills. Another nice hostel with another dog! There seems to be a pattern emerging here. We got our exercise by tramping up 250 (apparently) steps to then go up a tower with a further 175. It was worth it for the view.... This, however, wasn't enough for Andy, and he ran up them later - in the very hot sun. Luckily for him the men in white coats couldn't keep up.

After just the one night in Wanganui, we have reached Mana, a suburb of Wellington. And a hostel dog again. The owners weren't in when we arrived, so when we were met by this large, barking dog who wasn't wagging his tail, we were a little apprehensive. Chris told Andy he could go upstairs (towards the dog) first, but Andy managed to find other things to do. Tired of waiting for these strangers to come and feed him, the dog came to us - and didn't eat us! As it turns out, Rocky is actually extremely friendly and is more likely to knock you over playing than actually do anything guard-dog-like.

And we've managed to bring on the rain again! OK, so it's really warm drizzle, but rain nonetheless. We went up to the nearby supermarket, which is next to the train station, so we decided to take a detour into Wellington for a few hours. As you do. Stopping for a bit of liquid refreshment we bizarrely found the cheapest beer we'd come across yet - in the capital city - a very pleasant surprise. Tomorrow we will do a few more touristy things - probably indoors, given our rain-making-abilities.