Kapiti and Capital

Catching up now that I have access to a computer again!!

On Monday, I drove to Takapau in Central Hawkes Bay to stay with some friends.  Karen and Richard are both vets so I spent Tuesday morning being a vet's assistant as Richard visited 3 local deer farms to do some work.  In the afternoon, I had a walk round the sheep and deer farm with Karen and then went for a swim in the local pool while one of the boys had his swimming lesson.

On Wednesday, I headed down to the Kapiti coast to Raumati South and stayed with Patrick, from Parawai Tramping Club, and his wife Ann.  Patrick and his daughter, Katy, took me on a couple of local walks along the beach and up above the town where we had gorgeous views of Kapiti Island.

That evening, I gave a presentation to the Parawai Club - about 25 people - which went well.  It was interesting to see that tehre are any similarities in, for example, finding walk leaders but they have actually got around this slightly by calling them "tramp organisers" who suss out the walk but who may not necessarily be expected to be experts in ALL aspects.  There may be people on the walk better able to use GPS or a map or whatever, and these skills are shared.

Thursday was my birthday and I was wakened by "Happy Birthday" texts from Peter, my husband back at home.  Patrick, Ann and Katy very kindly gave me a lovely present of a NZ walks calendar. 

Pat, Katy and I then went for a walk near Otaki Forks in the Tararura Forest Park and had lunch by the Otaki River in stunning scenery and lovely weather.

I then headed for Palmerston North where I stayed with David and Gaewyn from the Tramping Club.  4 of the club took me out for a birthday meal before I then gave a talk to about 12 people from the club.  Again, the issues of the differences in our access (the UK Rights of Way system versus the need to get landowners' permissions for access in NZ and the track and hut system) were discussed and fascinating in their comparisons.

Today (Friday), I am in Wellington and first of all met up with Wasantha Marasinghe from the Dept of Internal Affairs, who looks after the Churchill Fellowship in NZ.  We had a coffee and a chat and compared and contrasted the WCMT in the UK and NZ.  I am the first Churchill Fellow that Wasanthe has met from the UK!  I then took AGES to find my hotel in Wellington's one way system but eventually found it then did some sightseeing along the harbourfront.

Fun on a Friday!!

Te Pape Tongarewa (Museum of New Zealand)