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Day 165 - 166 The Kapiti coast and Arrival in Australia

The Kapiti coast and the flight to Melbourne.

One of the sections of New Zealand that we had not done on our main trip was the Kapiti coast, this is the section of coastline directly north of Wellington. We left our lovely accommodation in Greytown and headed to the coast, this followed a route over two mountain ranges, the first was a relatively busy but fun major road, the next was a tiny narrow windy road, fun in its own way but I was glad when we got to the end, it did however provide a good viewpoint of the coast line.

The Kapti coast in the distance

We headed to Otaki and had a walk up and down the beach, we also started our hunt for Kapiti ice cream which had been recommended to us by some locals, in Otaki we were unsuccessful and headed down the coast to Paraparaumu for lunch. After lunch we were much more successful procuring a cone of fig and honey to share.

Kapti Island

Enjoying a fig and honey ice cream

We had another short walk on the beach before heading to the airport. We dropped the hire car off and got the shuttle to the airport, after checking in & dropping out bags off we had a cup of tea and saw Gandalf on an eagle. After going through security and having banter about my walking boots setting off the metal detector, I got pulled aside for the an explosives spot check, again very friendly and chatty.

Our flight to Melbourne was very smooth, I’ll let my post flight report for Matthew do the talking.

‘We have completed this leg of our journey on a Qantas Boeing 737-800, after bants with security over my walking boots setting off the metal detector 'just walk through faster next time' was their response... And more bants with the random explosives swab man 'does this happen to you often?’ and ‘any other checks after this will be targeted, this is the only random one' he also said that any drugs offenses they ignore and tell the next airport to expect you as that then becomes a more serious offense. The Wellington departure lounge gives a poor view over the gates and planes which are also directly in the setting afternoon sun, not a promising start. Boarding was swift and done in rows, back to front, we were on relativity early, I did think we may have been upgraded to premium economy as the seats were very nice, it turns out Qantas are just good. The take off was smooth but slightly bouncy once airborne due to Wellington's notorious winds. We had good views over the Malbourough sounds and Nelson in the setting sun. Apart from that it was about smooth flight with a vegetable tagene and tip top ice-cream halfway through. The flight landed smoothly in Melbourne with good views of the city lights. Next stop Jetstar at the end of June’

Views over the South Island, 'Why are we leaving?'

On arrival in Melbourne we got through immigration and environmental security and boarded the Skybus, once in the city we checked into our hotel for the night.

The next morning we enjoyed the continental breakfast before collecting our hire car and heading to some outdoor shops, my extensive online research made procuring a tent straight forward, we also bought an enormous airbed ,table, chairs ect… For our fist night we stayed just outside of Melbourne and pitched early to work out how to put the tent up.

Till Next time David & Joanna


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