After our two restful days at Lake Rotoiti, we hit the road on a drizzling Wednesday morning to drive 5 hours to the Taranaki peninsula on the west coast of New Zealand.
We drove on narrow twisty turning roads over steeply rolling hills and farmland, best suited for grazing animals that can climb steep hills.
We stopped to stretch our legs at this gorgeous spot.
And drove alongside New Zealand’s longest river, the Waikato, through more rolling hills to finally stop for lunch at a cafe in the town of Piopio, where I shared my biscuit crumbs with a few of the locals.
The next hour took us over dry, rocky, hilly terrain, New Zealand is experiencing its worst drought since the 1930’s,
and then through a mountain gorge alongside the Awakino river and to the coast.
You can drive for miles and miles without passing another car in some places.
After the winding, climbing and descending drive over the mountainous highway pass, we arrived at the coast and excitedly hopped out of the car to take in the beautiful blue ocean, directly across from a large herd of grazing cows that loudly serenaded us for a good 5 minutes before they quieted down to intermittently mooing.
5 minutes farther down the highway, we stopped again to take in the gorgeous vista of Three Sisters and Elephant rock, near the tiny town of Mokau, where the Tongaporutu river meets the ocean.
The photo above was taken at low tide, and on the way back we stopped to admire the view again at high tide.
I think I could look at that view day after day and never tire of it, it’s so beautiful!
About 20 miles outside New Plymouth, the perfectly conical shaped volcano, Mount Taranaki, came in to view.
As we drove to New Plymouth, we were amazed to see a number of impeccably maintained vintage American cars on the road. Then when we drove into town we were perplexed by the American flags draped along the highway. I didn’t think I deserved that big of a welcome, 😜 LOL.
When we arrived at the hotel, we saw many of the same vintage cars we had seen on the road in the parking lot. I asked the hotel manager what was going on and he said it was their annual Ameri-car-na festival with parades and events through the weekend.
Our neighbors in the hotel all had their doors open playing loud American 50’s and 60’s rock. It was great. We had been so relieved to have left the political vitriol of the US behind and as Americans were frankly embarrassed? ashamed? fill in the blank, or basically not feeling good about how our country is presently viewed by most of the world. So to encounter people celebrating their love of American car culture and music in far off New Zealand was so up lifting.
Back in the late 70’s, when I was in high school in Northern California, I spent many a Friday or Saturday night cruising in my best friends 65 Mustang, up and down the main streets of Santa Rosa or Petaluma with all the other teenagers in their muscle cars and hotrods. It was just like in the movie American Graffiti only 20+ years later.
The impressive site of Mount Taranaki behind our hotel.
A beautiful native Tui bird depicted in a downtown mural.
The city of New Plymouth makes the most of it’s location facing the Tasman Sea.
-:- Thursday -:-
While Phil went out to explore the area, I taught a one day Tea and Ephemera workshop.
At lunch time we hung our collaged and “glued” fabric out to dry, in order to add paint, colored pencils, stamps, and stencils.
So many fabulous mixed-media collages by my wonderful students in New Plymouth.
-:-
It was a short but sweet visit and the following day we left New Plymouth and drove 4 hours north to Ngaruawahia, the location of my next 2 workshops, and I’ll share that with you on Thursday.
Keep creating,
Judy
I’d love to spark your creativity at one of these upcoming events:
I’m not sure how many of these events will take place due to impact of the corona virus, but I’ll post cancellations and updates as they occur.
2020
May 27-31 Woodland Ridge Retreat, Menomonie, WI
Tea & Ephemera and Painting Imagery with Textile Paints
Australia!!! Cancelled
Berry, AU- June 27, 28 Berry Quilting Retreat 2 day Tea & Ephemera
Adelaide, AU- July 2, South Australia Quilters Guild Lecture
July 3, 4 Exhibition with the South Australia Quilters
July 10-16 Quilt Encounter 3-day Paint & Printapalooza, 2 day Tea & Ephemera
Brisbane, AU- July 18, 19 Queensland Quilters 2 day Tea & Ephemera
August 11-13 Calico Cutters, West Chester, PA
Tsukineko Inks and Tea & Ephemera
August 31 Color Theory lecture Pioneer Quilters Guild, Loomis, CA
September 26 River City Quilt and Fiber Art Festival, Sacramento, CA Tea & Ephemera
October 18-24 Hudson Valley Quilt Retreat, Greenville, NY
Paint and Printapalooza
ABOUT JUDY
Judy is an artist, explorer, image wrangler, knowledge seeker, instructor, speaker, creative alchemist, and purveyor of inspiration, helping others channel creativity on a daily basis.