Sunny Kapiti

We had a day out in Kapiti the other day, with a list of  several things to do.  The sun was shining, and it was a beautiful day.  Isn't it meant to be winter now?  It was certainly hard to tell.   Paekakariki, (Maori translation: the perching place of the kakariki or green parrot), is the southern entrance-way to the Kapiti Coast. But before we could cross the railway line and turn into the village, the barrier arms came down, ding, ding, ding went the bells, and we stopped for a train coming into the station.

Here comes the train

We needed to call into Paekakariki Holiday Park to double check and confirm our booking for our upcoming rally.  Things got a little confused when we were told someone had just done that the other day, and it wasn’t us.  Luckily we knew that two different caravan clubs are booked into this park for the same weekend, the staff must have forgotten.  Everything was confirmed for our club, we checked the cost, and that job was ticked off our list of things to do.

Then we drove up to Paraparaumu Beach where we had a couple of other chores to do.  Lunch time was fast approaching – fish and chips on the beach sounded rather appealing.  So that’s hat we did.  Robin used to eat his lunch in his truck on this beach occasionally when he was driving for Toops, back in the day, so knew just the spot to drive to.  That’s Kapiti Island off the beach.  We enjoyed our battered fish and tasty kumara chips, so tasty.

Fish and chips on the beach

What was happening, we wondered, as a workman started laying a line of traffic cones down the beach.  It all became clear when he started up a yellow digger.  He was going to cut another channel for the stream which dribbled into the sea.  Goodness knows how long that will last once the tide comes in.  All this activity kept us interested for a while.

Working on the beach

I really fancied a hot drink after our lunch on the beach, and the best place to get one in Kapiti was Butlers Chocolate Café in Paraparaumu Mall.  So decadent and delicious, plus they are served with hand crafted chocolate as well.  What a lovely conclusion to our lunch.

Hot chocolate at Butlers Café

There was one more stop on the way home.  We stopped off at Waikanae to visit our friends Bill and Val.  A lovely fresh batch of cheese scones was waiting for our afternoon tea, how kind was that.  Plus we had two scones wrapped up to take home for our supper.  What a lovely day out we had.