November 16, 2023
On the road again. Feels quite good, though as with the last trip the travel time, each day, is limited to three hours. I don’t enjoy driving as much as I used to. I guess somewhere along the way I got older. I particularly don’t like driving in traffic. I think the Aqua attracts horn blowers; there again, maybe it is me. Enough of that.
I like New Plymouth. It has similarities to Timaru, small coastal city with all the essentials. I am mentioning Timaru because it seems only last week we were overnighting there for lunch with M, K and C. Like Timaru, New Plymouth has attractive early century houses, often with well-tended gardens, though no one to lunch with.
Today we will probably go to the Len Lye installations at the Govett Brewster gallery. We did come across the Wind Wand millennium installation on the waterfront.
New Plymouth beckons me for three reasons. First is it is the setting off point for the solo Trans-Tasman yacht race (Bill Belcher comes to mind), second there is Chaddie’s Charters offering once around the rock on a genuine RNLI lifeboat (Retired). The lifeboat was first in service in the UK, followed by service in Sumner, and now doing the slipway waltz here in New Plymouth. The third beckoning is the gallery where Len Lye’s work is curated.
On reflection, I think today we will visit gardens. It is not raining, though it might tomorrow (rain that is). J will make the garden call. She is the chief operations officer for garden visits, and I am the chief operating officer for the maritime segments. I combine this with the full-time coxswain role.
Off Highway One 