73 Days on the Road
You know what, we’ve spent the last two days in Plimmerton on the Kapiti Coast and we still haven’t had a look around the Porirua suburb itself. Here we are sat in the comfort of the rather luxurious Moana Lodge, when there’s a whole world to discover outside these walls. We mean, we haven’t spent the whole time in the backpackers, as we took a day trip to Queen Elizabeth Park and did some extreme tree climbing at Adrenalin Forest.
It all starts with a map…
Thanks to a little map in the Moana Lodge, there is a loop walk we can do around Plimmerton called the Taua Tapu Track. There’s only one thing we like better than a walk and that’s a loop walk, so let’s go!
The Taua Tapu Track starts at a sign literally saying: Track to Reserve Road, which is just up Reserve Road next to Moana Lodge. At first, we think we are walking into someone’s driveway, but once we see a sign for the track in front of a track leading deep into the bush, we conclude we are surely in the right place (unless the owners really let their garden overgrow). Wood pigeons, fantails and tui can be heard fluttering in the tree canopy. Are we seriously in Plimmerton? This is crazy! We were so fixated at the seafront views from our window that we had no idea a massive hill was behind us thick with forest!
Working those legs!
Because it is a massive hill, there is a steep climb to do. The rest of the walk through the forest is up some steps. It really is a burn on the thighs, but we emerge with the best views in Plimmerton (we assume)! We can see the rest of the suburb stretching out along the bushy coastline from a viewing bench at the top.
Capturing the coastline
The walk continues onto the streets, capturing views of Porirua city below, the coastline and all the way out to Mana Island! The coastline here is so pretty. For a 1 hour walk, how have we taken more than 300 photos?!
The streets continue downhill where we meet up with a 4Square convenience store – much needed because we ran out of bread. Budget bread in hand, we continue the walk back to Moana Lodge along the beach, which starts off as a rock pool ramble. All sorts of shells and sea weed hide the rocks, probably hiding from the seagulls above… Something we should have done too because we now have a flock of seagulls following us and their instinct for Budget bread…
A seagull entourage
When we stop to sit on the rocks and look longingly out into the ocean, we attract quite a few seagulls who just sit guarding our bread hoping we’ll leave without noticing… We’ve got our eyes on you seagulls! The scars of what happened in Whitianga still remain…
Followed by an entourage of seagulls, we walk the rest of the way back on the sand we have gazed upon so much since we started staying at Moana Lodge. The backpackers really couldn’t be in a better place in Plimmerton.
A Rummikub obsession
Speaking of backpackers, here we are back at the backpackers playing a quick game of Rummikub, a board game from the hostel’s selection that Robin is now obsessed with after we played with Kimberley, Donna and Miriam back at Makoura Lodge. We are joined by Peter from Czech Republic on a Rummikub-off for our last night in the Moana Lodge before we head into the capital city tomorrow! See you then!
Perched on our rock and checking out the views
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See you tomorrow!
