30SantLlorenc: A beautiful day

After a week of rain and a storm that sucker punched Wellington, Sunday was a beautiful, sunny and reasonably warm day, perfect for doing a little exploring north of Porirua.

Elena went for a long hike in the morning - I drank hot coffee and wrote postcards. When she came back from her tramp up the side of a mountain we set off in the car - a tiny Suzuki - heading north on Route 1. Our first stop was in Pukerua Bay where we went for a long walk on the beach and then along a narrow track for a couple of miles. The scenery was amazing. Among the sites: A giant rock that the sea had hollowed out to make a natural tunnel. Elena also picked some wild spinach that one guy told us was "wicked good" and warned us not to eat it with salt. "It grows here near the beach so its already got plenty of salt in it," he said.

Next we went to Paekakariki (you gotta love these names even if, for someone like me, they're almost impossible to pronounce) where we stopped for a late lunch of fish and chips (I know, its a cliche but what the heck.) After that we continued north to Paraparaunu Beach where Elena went for another long walk while I started reading "Empire State" by Henry Porter. (There's only so much walking my legs can take these days... a tough thing to admit for a former infantryman but sometimes even I have to face facts.) When she came back we hung out for awhile watching the sun set and then headed back to Porirua. Along the way we saw this gigantic full moon so we detoured to Titahi Bay where we tried to shoot some photos of it. Mine did not come out as well as I'd hoped but it was worth the effort just to see it climbing into the night sky.

It was a great day.