Places to go, and people to see

It’s been another busy day, travelling down to the Hutt Valley.  We had places to go and people to see.   After a little business (and Jenny had time to check out a new quilt shop), we drove down to Petone Beach and bought some lunch.  Sitting in the car, we looked out across the beach to the bright lights of Wellington City.  Actually, it looked a little hazy, which was quite an improvement on the previous day, when mist and low clouds had kept the airport closed for several hours. 

Petone is full of history.  The first immigrant ship, the Aurora, arrived at Petone Beach following the long voyage out from England on 22 January 1840.  At that time, the  Hutt Valley was covered in dense forest and swamp, and rich in native bird life.  Maori from the nearby pa assisted the settlers to build their homes on Pito-one Beach, now known as Petone. These settlers established New Zealand's first bank and newspaper.

Petone Beach, looking across to Wellington

There was a handy coffee cart right on the beach, so I could indulge in a nice latte.  The red flowering pohutakawa tree is known as the New Zealand Christmas Tree and the bright flowers promise a long hot summer.

   Pohutakawa tree by the coffee cart

After this bit of R & R we headed over the hill to Wainuiomata to visit friends Geoff and Pauline.  They have just purchased a new coffee machine (I’ve seen George Clooney with one of these on TV so it must be good) so were keen to see what we thought.  In no time at all, we were served piping hot cups of coffee with lovely frothy milk, served with freshly baked scones with jam and cream, made by Geoff.   We also came away with a bag of plums, picked straight off the tree, thanks so much Pauline.

Coffee time

Back in the car, back over the Wainuiomata Hill, and our next stop was Paremata.  We were a little early for our appointment so wandered down to the harbour.  Family groups were splashing about and jumping off the bridge, while the traffic kept whizzing by.  A 4WD was backed into the water and hooking up a boat to tow it out of the water.  While we were watching the world go by, a train taking weary commuters on their homeward journey  raced across the rail bridge

Enjoying time in the water at Paremata Harbour

Commuter train crossing the water

We had been invited to the Paremata office of Harcourts Real Estate, together with many others who had sold their properties recently, and entered into a lucky draw of $10,000 travel voucher.  There was a bit of mixing and mingling to get through first, and the head honchos of the company did the rounds and spoke to all those in attendance.  Drinks were served, and all sorts of large platters of interesting food was passed around.  Where shall we go if we win the voucher, we asked ourselves.  How about a trip to Las Vegas, then on to the Grand Canyon?  That’s where we will go, we decided.

Our names are in that bucket

A young police constable came to help with the draw, put in her hand and pulled out…….no, not our names, sadly.  We will have to put our trip to the Grand Canyon on hold for a while.

It wasn’t us who won