We decided to take the scenic route back, following the coast line, probably no knowing exactly how much further it was. The Surf Highway was beautiful, however, and Brian said it was his best driving stretch so far in New Zealand, not only for its lovely scenery but also the absence of big logging trucks pressuring him from behind. We had the sea on one side and view of the mountain on the other.
We stopped at Oakura beach but weren’t very impressed. Clay coloured sand and puny waves. Near Opunake, Brian saw a sign saying “Nativity scene, St Paul’s church” so we went into Opunake and went looking for the church. It was well worth while. The whole church was turned into a nativity scene, starting from the foyer with the wise men and their camels.
Then we had to stoop through the little low door (the eye of the needle) and went into another room full of angels on white fluff and flying around with uv lighting to make the angels glow white.
Then we went through to the church sanctuary which had the large manger scene at the front and various shepherds at both sides. From the ceiling were suspended four flying angels.
The Bethlehem buildings were 3 dimensional and some even had cats sleeping on the roof.
Members of the congregation (which was mixed Methodist, Anglican and Presbyterian) were on duty on a roster basis to escort visitors around and give them tea and Christmas cake. we met Arthur, who was 76.
He insisted that we needed to see the beach where surfing competitions were held so we went down to the beach for ice cream.
At Patea we saw this interesting gateway.
It depicts the 9 Maori tribes coming to New Zealand in canoes.
On the way coming we had stopped at Palmerston North to break our journey but we didn’t get quite that far on the way back so we stopped at Wanganui We had stopped here on the way down to take a bit of a break. There we discovered an elevator to the top of a lookout hill. So we walked into the tunnel into the hill and pushed the button to called the elevator (which was built in 1916 and I was already wondering if there was an accident and we were killed, would our family know where we were?).From the top we had a lovely view of the Wanganui river.
The Holiday Park in Wanganui was the first one I’ve seen that had a place for a wood fire place and logs in barrels to fuel it. It wasn’t for cooking though, more like a heater.
Back on the road again the next day again, through the gorge, where we got to spot a train, and towards Palmerston North where there is a wind farm just outside town.
At the end of the journey we were back in Napier – home for the moment.
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