A few days leave - (part one)

Although the weather has been somewhat disorganised and unpredictable, a couple of days leave saw us hitch up the caravan and head off to explore a little corner of the North Island that we hadn't really noticed before! The Kapiti Coast has quite a number of 'off the beaten track' holiday parks and campsites so as it started to get dark, we headed in to one of them and set ourselves up for the night.
Within striking distance of Wellington, the area has loads to see and do and we spent day one ambling over the hills in the car (since the wind was most spectacularly unpleasant).

 

All over New Zealand, you will find 'foreign invaders' in the form of undesirable plants - the most dramatic of these (in my humble opinion) is the  gorse which was brought into the islands by well-meaning folks to use as wind breaks and hedges. Needless to say it has become a serious problem since the density of the bushes is such that they are completely impenetrable and to top it all, they sport the most vicious thorns. None of the livestock, nor any of the wild animals - of which you have to remember, there are only but a miniscule number and which are limited in variety to vermin and possums! - eat any part of the plant and so it has spread like the proverbial wildfire.

We took these pictures in the course of our leisurely drive, having been horrified at the extent of the gorse infestation. The seeds apparently are almost impossible to erradicate and thrive on the ground where a recently burnt/poisoned gorse bush has been removed. Thick gorse with it's 'pretty' yellow blooms, adorn the rolling hills as far as the eye can see.

Some of the most dedicated land owners and farmers are doing their best in many areas to get this under control, but here, as you can see, the gorse has pretty much taken over.

On the side of the mountain road we saw this truck
and having driven past it, we did a U-turn further
down the road to go back and photograph it. If you click on the picture,it will pop up in a bigger frame (and now suddenly, with the advent of  'new and improved' Blogger, this no longer happens - I am finding blogging extremely frustrating - why can't the old adge of "if it aint broke, don't fix it" apply?) and you should see the notice on the van that says,"Baby Grand On Board" Appealed to our sense of 'how the world should work' having just heard about our friends moving in SA and having their grand piano treated like something the dog dragged in. Shame on you Biddulphs!

A marvellous 'all you can eat' salad bar to accompany the fabulous fresh fish we enjoyed at the Fishermans Table restaurant in Paekakariki, had us chatting about the names of the towns in the area.
Paraparaumu, Paekakariki and Waikanae all have names which are similar to other town's names in other parts of the country - living in Wanganui, Whangarei, Whatuwhiwhi, Whakatane, Whananaki, Whangaparaoa,Waiuku, Wairoa and Waipukurau all have similar names - and these are just in the North Island! One has to be very sure of one's facts before one starts disagreeing with anyone about where something is, and perhaps near to which town. The chances are good that one could make a slight error!
Dis al!