North Island Day 19

Today we had 340km to travel. The day with the most traveling of the whole holiday. We decided to still head for New Plymouth as going straight to Palmerston North (our next stop) would be at least 2 hours more.
Although Ruth's temperature is back to normal she is not feeling great yet. Her mouth is still sore and so she is not eating that well. We saw this orchard and decided to get her a berry shake to try and tempt her to get some goodness in. She slowly sipped on it while we traveled but it was horrible to see her feeling ill.

Unfortunately the highway was closed at one point and so we had a LONG detour. The negative was that it was very windy (I mean not straight rather than the wind blowing) as we made our way through the mountains and so very slow going, but it was also just a magnificent area and so we enjoyed the scenery as we slowly made our way south.

When we finally reached the coast we stopped for a break and a run on the beach. The light in the photo stops you from seeing the beauty of this black beach, but it's still a pretty picture of Brendon and Hannah going for a walk. Hannah was so full of energy - so it was good for her to stretch her legs.

Again I forgot to NOT turn my camera. Sorry. I can't flip it back. But it does show you the lovely black sand and how windy it was. It was so cute to see the black soles of Hannah's feet as she ran.

Here is a snapshot of the video with her black little feet

- the right way around :-).

We reached New Plymouth in the afternoon. Checked into the motel and then headed out to find something for dinner. We drove past this beautiful old church.

Mt Taranaki or Mr Egmont. Photo taken at the end of the road where we stayed overnight. What a beautifully clear day to see it too.