Farmstay & Wellington

Three hours after rafting we were in another farm.  Jeff is having a big break from us. I’m starting to miss him, but I also cannot get enough of the farms.

It’s a six hour drive from Taupo to Wellington and breaking it up makes everyone happier. We found a farm a bit off the highway and up an incredibly winding road on the Ruahine Range. David and Susan, the owners, were wonderful hosts.  Now that they’re in their 70s, they lease out most of the land to Nick, the sheep farmer, and their son raises horses on a smaller portion.

Talking with the owners (including at the other farms we’ve stayed) is one of the best parts of these experiences.  They’ve all had very interesting lives. David was  once a heli-ski guide before he took over the farm and now he and Susan lead tours around Europe every summer to escape NZ winter.  He mentioned that they have famous actors stay at the farm for the superb trout fishing, but despite my pleading he wouldn’t give me names.

David gave us a tour of the farm in his 60 year old Land Rover.  The kids loved how he turned off his engine and we costed down the hills. We met the new foals and his favorite sheep, Flossy, who comes when called. I’ve never seen that. I didn’t even know sheep could do that.

We ate dinner on the veranda, played the ukulele (I know one song now) and played tag while overlooking the mountains and sunset. So much land and sky. Another favorite spot, favorite evening, favorite everything.

We stayed in David’s grandparents’ house, the original farmhouse that was built in 1894.  It was a little spooky, but I’m also a fraidy-cat. Although I’m sure David’s grandparents are lovely ghosts, the kids decided to all sleep in one bed, sandwiching Luke so he didn’t fall out. Super cute. Susan made us breakfast in the morning- homemade croissants, muesli, yogurt, fruit. Perfection. We fed Flossy, dragged ourselves out of Mairenui Farm and started our rainy drive to Wellington.

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

  

We’ve been super lucky with the weather. The rain started during our drive and ended when we arrived in Wellington.  This was one of our longer drives thus far. We got to Wellington in time for a late lunch (I sacrificed Wellington time for more David and Susan time).  Wellington was a blitz of activity before things closed. Lunch on the harbor, the Te Papa Museum, cable car, quick stroll around Cuba St.

Our accommodations were not exactly in line with the previous night’s but very convenient. The parking lot of the Lake King Motor Lodge may not sound glamorous but it is located just outside of the city center and a 5 minute drive from the ferry. For the 12 hours we were  staying there it would get the job done. It was raining and incredibly windy (Wellington is NZ’s windiest city).  We hung out in the motel bar eating nachos and playing uno. It was actually a very fun evening.  The intense winds kept me up most of the evening. I felt it would be good to act as watchman in case we tipped over but actually I was reading Where the Crawdads Sing and couldn’t stop.  I finished the book around 4 am and we didn’t tip over so all was good.

We drove the caravan onto the ferry first thing in the morning. It’s a 3 hour ride to Picton on the South Harbor (bye bye North Island).  We took kindles and schoolwork up to the lounge area (the ferry was huge – much larger than I expected) and chilled out for the ride.

Te Papa Museum

             

          

         

          

        

 Cable Car/Funicular

      

            

       

        

Ferry