First things first; the week 6 video is now live on YouTube ..... click HERE to view it.
Today I was a little lethargic; after a big driving day yesterday I took time to complete the Week 6 video, had a chat with my mum and brother, and then checked out of my room at 10:00 before heading for a coffee. I departed Greytown at 10:30 and the first job was refuelling the car as the fuel light had come on for the first time.
I had a few things on the list of possibilities for today, but Cape Palliser lighthouse won the day, mainly because there was a Lord of the Rings location on the way ..... which became the first short stop.
Putangirua Pinnacles (for those who are interested) is the location where Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli rode the Paths of the Dead in the films, but I was aware that the site may be closed. I pulled into the car park, and sure enough there was the sign saying that the path was closed. This was another location that I was therefore unfortunately unable to visit, but at least I tried! Yes, I know it wouldn't have stopped Aragorn .... but he had the right sword!
Back onto the coast road which had suffered a fair bit of subsidence (there were bits of the coast side of the road just missing!) and onto the Cape Palliser Lighthouse.
There was a wooden staircase up to the lighthouse, so off I went making sure to just keep going and not look at the top. It started fairly comfortably, but after the half way point the steepness increased and the climb became much harder. I seemed to arrive at the top pretty quickly even though I was a bit out of breath, but that soon passed. I had a chat with the folks already at the top, and when they left I had the site to myself for a quarter hour, before starting the descent.
On the way down I counted 252 steps (I wasn't going to do it on the way up was I!), and it seemed much steeper at the top when I was facing into thin air! A definite case of concentrating on my feet while I descended (and before anyone asks, yes I can see them .... cheeky monkeys!)
From here I thought that the next best thing was to head to the southernmost capital city in the world and my city centre accommodation for the next two nights. I retraced the route I had taken this morning, then re-joined SH2 that I spent so much time enjoying yesterday. As I headed southwards, the hills came closer and closer until I was climbing to a summit lookout.
The road continued down through the Wellington suburbs until suddenly I was on the shores of Wellington harbour. I drove past the cruise ships and Interislander ferry that I'll be catching on Monday morning before arriving at the Oaks Hotel in the centre of Wellington.
I went to check in, but they have no parking spaces available at the hotel, so I dropped off my bags and was directed to alternative parking (actually cheaper than the hotel charge so that's a bonus, and only a 3 minute walk away). Back to the hotel to get checked in, then dinner (the first thing I've eaten today except for a Lemon and Passionfruit Slice with Coffee this morning) before retreating to the room to catch up with todays blog.
It's been an intentionally fairly quiet day, but I have a full day Lord of the Rings tour tomorrow to keep me out of mischief, then early Monday morning my North Island adventure will be over as I catch the ferry to Picton.
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