Tuesday, 22 June 2010

Tuesday – New Plymouth to Opunake on the Surf Highway 45

A beautiful sunrise this morning, which was a real treat after 2 days of terrible stormy showers and gusting winds.  So, we finally got to appreciate our amazing sea views over breakfast.

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We also had another treat as we stepped out the van…a semi-clear view of Mount Taranaki.

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We set out taking the Surf Highway 45 south from New Plymouth, passing some beautiful black sand beaches on our journey.  First stop was Cape Egmont Lighthouse, built in London in the mid 1800s and shipped in segments to NZ in 1865, for use on this westerly point, where it was manually operated until 1986.

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Our destination today was Opunake, a surf-style town halfway along our scenic drive.  Home for the next 3 nights is Opunake Beach Holiday Park, and as we are the only guests we got the pick of sites.  Located in a sheltered black sand bay, surrounded by Pohutukawa trees, it truly is a great spot!  And, as you can see from the below photo our van looks rather lonely!

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We took a walk into town, a one street kind of place, and inspected the famous murals that decorated all of the buildings…the local surf hostel would have won our first prize for effort and design!

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