Uh, oh, New Plymouth Again

 Hi there

I was in an independent ' I-don't-need-no-driving-licence' mood, trying not to feel sorry for myself, and so I did what I always do when I'm feeling irked by life ..  I shot off to New Plymouth for five nights.  This time, I went by Intercity bus, eight hours each way.  'Nuff said?

Yay, I stayed at the Devon Hotel:  two dinner buffets, one buffet breakfast, and two room service meals - the roast dinner of the day was a true feast.  I almost collapsed under the weight of the huge plated meal as I took it from the wait staff member who delivered it to my room.  

I also went to my fave Asian buffet where the creme brulee was superb.  And I know what you're thinking - "an Asian restaurant serving Creme Brulee, never?" But it was to die for and I always make a beeline to this place for dinner-with-creme-brulee when I'm in New Plymouth.

I swam in the Devon Hotel pool every day.  But - oh my - the pool temp was 30c. ( wasn't acclimatised to such heat. The sea at the moment in Wellington is somewhere around 12c. 

And I did something totally daring ... I got a free bicycle from the Devon Hotel and  cycled up and down The Coastal Walkway.  Goodness, it was exhausting.  I got off the bike more than I was on it.  It was all those mountains I was supposed to pedal up, and ended up pushing the bike over them instead.  Mind you, the passing walkers who I grizzled to, informed me that they were only small rises, not mountains at all.

I also wandered in and out of lots of charity shops down the main shopping road, Devon Street.

And that reminds me of a story my friend once told me -

My friend took a doll's house into a Wellington charity shop to donate.  She had spruced it up by painting the window sills and adding new shingles to the roof.  It was near to Christmas and my friend was positive there would be a little girl somewhere who would love to have the doll's house.

"Oh, no..."  The charity volunteer shook her head.  "We already have one doll's house.  We don't need another."

So my friend's husband lugged the doll's house back to the car.   They ended up giving it to a neighbour's son who loved it to bits. 

And this little story brings me back to New Plymouth.  Inside one charity shop, there were notices plastered  eveywhere asking for more donations. I also saw the same sort of notice inside other charity shops   Good on you New Plymouth.

I walked The Coastal Walkway, as well as cycling it.

As you can see, the above photo is up to my usual professional(?) standard of photography.

Edmonds Cookery book

 Hi there

When I was a child in the 1950s, the Edmonds Cookery Book was THE cookbook for kiwi women-about-the-house, along with their cleaning duties, the laundry, bed-making, accounting, nanny-ing, shopping, pet-watching, etc, etc, etc.  The men-about-the-house in those days were into lawn-mowing and ...um ... did I mention lawn-mowing?  

The Edmonds Cookery Book was printed roughly every couple of years (in a hardback form from 1955) up until .. well .. the edition I have is for 1985.  I don't know how long it went on after that.  There were older editions in a different format.

But ... my fave recipe in the book was for cheesecakes.  And here is where I reveal that New Zealand cheesecakes in those days were not what is understood today as a cheesecake.

Above:  my New Plymouth cheesecake

It was a single little pastry and jam-type cake with - wait for it - no cheese in it at all.  Surprise.

And did I like those little cheesecakes?  I adored them!  Relished them, took them to school in my lunch bag -

"Hey, Mum, can you bake some more cheesecakes tomorrow?"

"More?  You've just eaten three!"

Sadly, cheesecakes disappeared.  I can't tell you when it happened, or how, but perhaps they'd just had their day.  The 'other' newer type of cheesecake snuck into shops.  Maybe this new type of cheesecake started in New York?  Or Germany?  I don't know.  All I can remember is that one day we were eating little NZ cheesecakes and on another day we were down at the local supermarket buying big round frozen cheesecakes, ones that evolved into rather posh tucker at top-end restaurants.  They were nothing like the kiwi ones.

But never fear...

When I was in New Plymouth earlier this month, I went into a bakery and what did I find?:  those lovely little identical cheesecakes from the Edmonds Cookery Book!

Sheer happiness for me... 

The cakes didn't quite come up to the standard of my memories of them.  I guess our palates are more refined nowadays. 

175 g (6 ozs) flaky pastry

Raspberry jam

125 g (4 ozs) butter

125 g (4 ozs) sugar

2 eggs

150 g (5 ozs) flour

1 teaspoon Edmonds Baking powder

Cream butter and sugar.  Beat eggs and add alternately with sifted flour and baking powder.  Roll out pastry and line about 21 patty tins.  Put 1 teaspoon of raspberry jam in the bottom of each then a large spoonful of cake mixture on top.  Place a small twist of pastry on top.  Bake about 20 minutes at 200c (400F)

(sorry, for the recipe looking a bit skew-whiff a few times.  My eyesight is so bad I had trouble with the layout.  Should be ok now)

Oh, I believe the United States flour texture  is slightly different from ours.

Another New Plymouth Holiday

 Hi there

I'm just back from 6 days' holiday in New Plymouth.  I so love walking the Coastal Walkway.  It's completely concrete, and part of it is directly opposite the city.  On the walk, one comes across bicycles, skaters, walkers, dawdlers, scooters, mobile scooters, joggers, families, mothers with prams. Last week, I even came across an oldie on a walker.  She was on the track for about half-an-hour.

I stayed at the Devon Hotel, in the city, with the most fantastic nightly buffet that the locals adore. And I can swear by the fish and chips from Room Service (plus... no tipping).   And across the road is a zig-zag path that leads you - in about 5 minutes - past a stream to the Coastal Walkway.  

There is a croquet green at the bottom of the zig-zag.  I stopped to sort out my sunhat and my sunblock.

An older guy passed me.  He nodded toward the croquet green.  "  Go on, " he indicated, with a wink.  "Give croquet a go?"

"I'm too young for croquet," I said.  ...  Fibber ...

I've done the Walkway lots of times, used to walk from the Ngamotu Beach end (family beach, calm water) which is down at the Port end -  to the modern bridge end.  Couple of hours walking it all one-way, maybe.

stock photo:  Mt Taranaki can be seen through the bridge

But last week, I decided to split up my walk into two sections, to make it more leisurely.  In whichever direction I walked I had to remind myself that I had to walk the same distance back again.  But there are points along the Walkway to park a car, cross over or walk up to a bus stop, or make a detour to the city.

Another place I love to stay in is a small serviced cabin at the Belt Road Seaside Holiday Park.  The cabin has en suite, and kitchen facilities.  The cabins (and some motor home parks) are on the edge of the cliff, looking across to the magnificent view of the sea, and the holiday park is right next to the Coastal Walkway.  What I like about these cabins, is that I can tie my own elasticated clothesline between the two poles on the cabin deck and dry my wet bathing suit!

above:  Me, on the Coastal Walkway. In front of a surf rescue club. Surf water.

above:   This used to be the entrance to the aquatic centre, a place where I learnt to swim when I was ten.  There's a more impressive entrance around the corner nowadays.  The Coastal Walkway goes around the aquatic centre.

above:  thin me!  There is a silvery-metallic-type sculpture on the Coastal Walkway, near to the city.   If I go around the back of the sculpture and look at my reflection, I appear extremely thin.  Wow, wonderful.  Hey, my hair even looks thin; it was very windy and I got a sort of mohawk.

above:  Along the Coastal Walkway.  Behind the tree, you can spot a glimpse of a yellow-ish building.  This is the Clarendon Flats, St Aubyn Street, where I lived for a couple of years as a child.  If you look in front of the posh new building on the right, you can see a white fence.  I used to stop my bicycle against the fence and just sit there on my bike, gazing for ages at the sea.   I was so fascinated by it.

The above photos taken last week. If you look further back in this blog, at other New Plymouth holidays, you'll see more photos taken from the Coastal Walkway (of the actual sea views!)

New Plymouth Again

Hi there

Last week I went to New Plymouth for five days.  It's about five hours drive away from Wellington.  I went up there to walk the Coastal Walkway.  I intended to walk it every day...

It rained every day. 

The first day it rained lightly, so I walked a few kms in the rain, umbrella up.  And there was no wind.  So eerie, I'm used to windy weather; I live in Wellington, after all.

The next day I managed to cram half of the walkway into the few hours where the sky was cloudy but there was no rain. The very next day I finished the walkway.  In the rain, again.

The next day .... under the orange rain alert, I stayed in the hotel.  I tried to leave.  Twice.  Once in my car, but my little blue baby wouldnt start.  She'd gulped down too much rain, I figured.

So, I donned my rain jacket, and my hiking shoes, grabbed my umbrella and set out the two blocks from the Devon Hotel to the town shops.

I didn't even make it the one block.  Every driveway had turned into a waterfall.  My shoes were saturated before I even exited the hotel's premises.  I was soaaked.

I gave up.  And spent the day in the hotel, eating Weight Watcher apple crumble bars and watching tv.

The good thing about the Devon Hotel is they have breakfast and evening (magnificent) buffets, and a pretty good room service menu.  Oh, and a swimming pool.

above:  on the coastal walkway.

***

I belong to a Voice Arts class for seniors.  Impromptu stuff, talking about the past, having fun. Our instructor is Hilary Norris.  At present she is playing one of the three elderly witches in "The Coven on Grey Street", at Circa Theatre, here in Wellington.  I went on Sunday, with a bunch from our class.  What a lovely, funny, enjoyable play.

above: Hilary is the actress on the left in the poster outside Circa Theatre, Wellington.

New Plymouth Holiday

 Hi there

I sudddenly got it into my head to go to New Plymouth for five nights.  What fun?  On the way up to NP my car got caught twice in detours because of car accidents.  A 30 minute detour at Levin.  And then, as I was approaching Waverly,  I was held up in a loooooong queue where I was stationary for over 2 hours.  

And, on the way home - at Inglewood -  I had a 45 minute detour that led me up hill, down dale, between paddocks, sheep, cows, and through  the bush.  When  I emerged, I worked out that if there had been no detour I could have covered the original route in about five minutes.

New Plymouth was great.  Every day I walked the Coastal Walkway.  I felt so tired but what a wonderful walk with a terrific sea view.  Nobody on the walkway wore masks, but the minute I crossed the train tracks into the city, masks were everywhere.

And talking about train tracks ....?  I was about to cross one lot of tracks, looking both ways and making sure no train was approaching when a guy came toward me from the other side of the train tracks.  Meaningfully, he stopped mid-track, burrowed around for his water bottle, took a swig, put his bottle back in his pack, then sauntered across to the gateway.  What a silly guy!  

below:  Mt Taranaki was a stand-in for Mt Fuji in Tom Cruise movie "The Last Samurai".

below:  Devon Street. Main shopping street, New Plymouth

below: Mt Taranaki, from the Coastal Walkway

New Plymouth Again

Hi there

I suddenly decided to go to New Plymouth for three nights, and was out of the house within 35 minutes.  Over the last few months I thought I'd lost the super-power of fast packing but, no, I had regained that power  -

Wait, no!  I forgot my hiking shoes.  And my going-to-town-and-posh-dining-in-restaurant shoes.  For the whole time away, I was in my scungy, scuffed shoes; the ones I drive in.  

I walked for hours (and hours) in New Plymouth, in just my old Skeechers court shoes, wearing the soles completely flat by the end of my short holiday .

I love New Plymouth's Coastal Walkway.  I walked it backward and forwards twice, walking from the port to the modern-looking walkway bridge  -

above:  from this end of the bridge, I could see Mt Taranaki (okay, I wasn't quite standing in the right place to get the mountain exactly framed in the middle of the span (missed the vista by this much).

above:  this is the other end of the bridge, with more of a view of the beautiful workmanship of the structure.

 

New Plymouth images

Hi there

 I came back yesterday from four nights in New Plymouth.  I really like New Plymouth.  I stay at the Belt Road Seaside Holiday Park in a small en suite cabin, and with the most magnificent view from the deck; I sat on the deck for hours, just watching the ocean.  I walked The Coastal Walkway every day and goodness I was tired by each day's end.  

I took three photos.  Interesting?  Disturbing?  

above: sculpture of four sitting nudes, with a gap between the third and fourth nude, leaving room for a person to sit and be photographed.  I saw a guy being photographed.  He was fondling a big and beautiful sculptured breast.

above:  something on the menu called a Sambo? 

above:  an Indian restaurant called "Arranged Marriage".  We have a campaign in the country at the moment trying to stop overseas arranged marriages of  child brides.

Yet another little holiday

Hi there

I've just been to New Plymouth for four nights.  Oh wait, no, it was three nights because ... New Zealand, country-wide, had severe storms last weekend, the day I was due to leave Wellington for New Plymouth.  Road wash-outs and slips everywhere.  I got about twenty minutes from Miramar to find Highway No 1  was closed because of flooding.  And it was just as bad further up the line.

So, I gave up and went home, furious.  Anyway, when I finally left the next day, the weather was great.  And I loved New Plymouth.  It's one of my fave places.  I walked The Coastal Walkway, swam, cycled The Coastal Walkway, shopped.  I stayed, as usual in an en suite cabin at Belt Road Seaside Holiday Park.  From the deck of my cabin, I had the most glorious sea and coastal views.

Happy Christmas shopping.  Don't get stressed out!

 above:  part of the view from my en suite cabin deck at Belt Road Seaside Holiday Park, New Plymouth.

 

above:  the new Len Lye Gallery to commemorate Len Lye and his art work.  His wind wands are in various places around New Zealand.  The gallery was built on the site where a picture theatre used to be.  I was ten and on Friday nights my parents took me to this theatre  There was always a serial  beforehand.

The Desert Song - the Red Shadow

Hi there

There are many super-heroes in movies nowadays.  Spiderman, Batman, Ironman, Superman, Antman ...  I could go on  ... and on ...

but -  when I was a kid I fell in love with Al Kabar The Red Shadow as portrayed  by singer Gordon Macrae in the movie of the operetta "The Desert Song".

Sigh.  Swoon.  The Red Shadow was everything my nine year old heart could pine over.  He was handsome and romantic, with a voice to entice the angels out from the clouds. My super-hero rescued maidens, trounced baddies, led a heroic bunch of rebels called The Riffs, and strode across the desert all moody, masked, and gorgeous.

When The Red Shadow dramatically swished his robes, and slipped on that shawl-type disguise thing over the bottom half of his face and his eyes were twinkling, I fell in love for the first time in my life.  I was so jealous of Macrae's romantic interest, Kathryn Grayson. .

I saw the movie seven times.  My love for it never waned, not even when my ballet teacher was an extra in the New Plymouth amateur presentation of "The Desert Song" and I wasn't,  and a donkey did a poo on the stage;  the dancers adroitly stepped around the mess.

Three years' later, I was in to rock'n'roll and operetta was out.  No more sighing over Gordon MacRae.

Kids are so fickle.

New Plymouth and Nelson

Hi there

I've just returned from a couple of weeks' holiday.  One week in New Plymouth and another week in Nelson.  The temp was never less than 24c and on one day in Nelson, the temp hit 29c, a March heat record.

On the 29c day in Nelson, I had booked to go on a day trip to the Abel Tasman National Park.  All a -tingle with excitement I waited at 7.30 am at the Tahunanui bus stop to be picked up.  An Abel Tasman Shuttle bus approached.

I waved happily, and the bus glided right on past me.

Huh?

I was forgotten, forlorn, standing there on the pavement with my bag stuffed full of bathing suit, food, sun block, sunhat, umbrella, and anything else one could think of to ensure a good day in the bush and on the beach.  Not that I was going to go bush adventuring (been there, done that, sprained my knee), but a day lazing on the Anchorage beach would be sublime.

I contacted the company and, yes, they'd gone to a different place to pick me up than the place that was written on my ticket.

I was given a free trip for the following day where the weather wasn't quite as nice, but I did get up close to dolphins which I believe are rarely spotted in the National Park area.

I was so ticked off at being left high and definitely dry that I stomped across the road to Tahunanui Beach and went for an 8 a.m. swim. 

Here's the view from the deck of my en suite cabin at the Belt Road Seaside  Holiday Park in New Plymouth.  I love Belt Road because it is right next to the Coastal Walkway which is a fantastic place to wander.