Pass me a weatherman

Last week's trip to the wind farm left me wanting more of that 'freedom of the road' feeling, so once the week's regular workload was cleared, the maps came out! New Plymouth was quickly decided upon as the destination that would give us a route along the road less traveled. A look at the Metservice (NZ weather) site told us that we were in for great sunny weather for the next five days -  happy days!

So my wife and daughter decided to come along for the ride and we were going to camp to add to the fun. Much packing ensued and once the kitchen sink was finally loaded, it was off to bed for a 6am start!

We awoke to rain... hmmm this wasn't meant to happen. A quick check of the weather site revealed that it was only going to be showers for a day and where we were headed was going to be fine

.....they lied!

After a 400km drive in the rain without a single photo opportunity we arrived at a very soggy New Plymouth. Now call me soft, but I'm just not interested in putting up tents in the rain, it's not my idea of fun at all. Plan B was decided on and we got ourselves a room at the Devon Hotel which I can highly recommend, really friendly helpful staff and great rates. My daughter gave the beds a top bounce-ability rating, she cleared the gap between them with ease and good air time!

It was just as well the room was nice as it proceeded to rain for the next two days and we never even got a glimpse of the 2700m Mount Taranaki, let alone get a shot of it!  I have to say I am no big fan of the weatherman at the best of times but this just took the biscuit, each day they promised better weather but none came. 

So I would like to propose a national 'kick-a-weatherman' day! I cannot think of another profession where you can consistently get your job wrong with no fear of losing it! C'mon you know I'm right!

Finally we gave up and headed for home although not until we had a good stroll along the coastal walkway to the Te Rewa Rewa bridge (the shot above) which was very cool indeed... even in the rain! At least the rain subsided for the journey home and I managed to get a few road shots along the way.

On the highest point of Mt Messenger, I jumped out to get a shot of the road tunnel and bumped into an amazing guy from Taiwan called Pin ( please excuse my spelling if you read this). He had just spent the last 80 days or so cycling from the top to the bottom of New Zealand and was on his way back up to Auckland to fly out the following week. I was so engrossed with his tales of the experience, it completely slipped my mind to ask for a snap of him! I kicked myself all the way to the tunnel, until I woke up to the fact I was standing the wrong side of the armco barrier with a 300m drop just behind my heels! Not a big fan of heights I have to admit.

Oh well lesson learned, never miss an opportunity and seize the moment!