Taranaki

After the long weekend, we finally bade a fond farewell to Papamoa and our hosts and exited, with a slight detour via Eighty Eight on The Mount to pick up some breakfast, out through Tauranga.

Spoiled for choice

We also stopped by Pak'n'Save to restock our larder and fuel up, which, coupled with the morning rush traffic, delayed our getting on the road proper. Once underway, we stopped briefly to scoff the enormous scones we had procured for breakfast, which were stuffed with peppers, spinach, and cream cheese, while surveying the Matamata valley.

The weather tempted us with warm sunshine and blue skies, so we made a stop to enjoy a coffee outside in Cambridge, where the Duke and Duchess of its namesake paid a visit to the town hall last year.

The other Cambridge town hall

Roadworks blighted our progress for much of the route, throwing newly surfaced 30km/h stretches at us with frustrating regularity, with the result that we faced getting to our destination - New Plymouth - too late to enjoy the late afternoon sunshine.

Rather than race through the countryside, as though reaching our destination were the only imperative, we broke the journey at Otorahanga after seeing signs for a 'kiwi house', which had been recommended to us.

Having been on a night walk through Trounson park and only hearing the bird's call, we were excited to one in the flesh (albeit in captivity), but I assumed it would be asleep during the day. Gratifyingly, inside a darkened area, constructed to mimic the forest floor, were several kiwi loping around. 'Loping' is the most apt word I can find to describe their peculiar gait. With poor sight, but am excellent sense of smell and hearing, the kiwi crashed around their small domain - each in their own section, as they don't get along well.

A kiwi that has ceased to be

Fortuitously, we arrived at feeding time and the female handler entered the cage with a mixture of ox heart, tofu, raisins, corn, peas and porridge in a long tube. The kiwi probed the concoction with its needle-long beak, which, uniquely among birds, has nostrils at the end for sniffing out grubs and worms in the soil. This causes them to sneeze, as the nostrils become clogged with dirt.

The handler announced that the female kiwi, owing to their close relationship, had chosen her as her lifelong mate. The kiwi hopped up into the handler's lap, but found it less agreeable than a male kiwi's embrace, and soon started biting and kicking the handler.

The remainder of the route along State Highway 3 wound through gorgeous rolling green hills, studded with rocks and peopled by cows, sheep and little else, before eventually popping out onto the coast. Flagging from the ambitious drive, I pulled off at a brown sign for 'Three Sisters', where we discovered low tide allowed us walking access across volcanic black sand to the eponymous rock formations.

Two of the three sisters

I had hoped we would pass Mike's Organic brewery, just outside of New Plymouth, in time to raid their on-site shop. Alas, we reached the doors at a few minutes past the closing time of five o'clock. Disappointed, I drove us the final sixty-some kilometres to the Fitzroy Beach holiday park, where we parked up for the night.

Sugar Loaf islands

In the dwindling light, we took a stroll in the rapidly cooling coastal air along the pathway east to the mouth of Waiwhakaiho River, enjoying fantastic views of the pleasingly conical Mount Taranaki.

The 'Naki

The mountain was ringed with cloud, which only served to accentuate its summit, protruding above the grey-white collar.

Bridge over the River Waiwhakaiho

After a long day in the driving seat, the last thing I wanted to do was put together dinner in yet another new kitchen. Fortunately, K took up the baton and assembled a simple dish of rice and salad with crunchy, fresh green beans picked from our Papamoan hosts' garden, fried up with garlic and red chilli, topped with a poached egg, and lime and coriander aioli - the latter a gift from our very generous hosts.

Everything's better witb aioli