November 17, 2023
Well, it is raining today. Not unexpected. If anything, we thought the rain would set in yesterday. It was a good choice to do gardens yesterday and to leave the gallery until today. I can’t recall ever having described gardens as a good choice, but there you go.
Describing gardens as a good choice brings Tom Clarke to mind. He, in later life, took up gardening after a life of business, car racing and then sailing. His business was Ceramco and through his life he had yachts designed and built, with the main emphasis on sea-keeping ability and speed. Three boats come to mind. One I can’t remember the name of; however, it went on to win the downwind sleigh ride from Los Angeles to Hawaii (under a different owner). My memory of this boat is quite hazy. The next was Buccaneer, which was sailed to the UK and raced there. Both these boats were John Spencer-designed plywood flyers. The third boat was Ceramco (a Bruce Farr design), built for the Whitbread Around the World (with a dip down into the Southern Ocean) race. From memory, Ceramco was driven by Peter Blake, then at the beginning of his ocean yacht racing domination.
Now, back to gardens. Pukeiti is truly impressive. It has a focus on rhododendrons, set within the temperate rainforest regenerating on the lower seaward side of Mt Taranaki. It is worth a visit. The other garden we visited yesterday is slap bang in the middle of New Plymouth, Pukekura Park.
I have left it to J to write about the gardens. She does it better than me. I will, though, resist the urge to write further about boats.
Tomorrow we are off home. We will break the three-hour travel rule and do the trip in one go. I planned it this way because I thought that the five-hour journey can be broken in half and we can get a good walk in. Our plan is to leave early, take a break in Whanganui and a further break somewhere at the top of the Wairarapa.
Talking of walking, yesterday I did close to 15 thousand steps. Now that is getting up there.
Today we are off to the Len Lye exhibits.
Off Highway One 