#168 Nomad Diary. 6-12 January 2024. New Plymouth, New Zealand House Sit. Mt Taranaki. Dawson Falls. Three Sisters Beach With Church Friends.
 |
| At Lake Mangamahoe |
 |
| Creative Camper at Lake Mangamahoe Saturday. 6. Walk around Lake Mangamahoe. Some cloudy skies obscuring Mt.Taranaki. Some gorgeous full on sun. |
 |
| Dawson Falls Viewpoint |
 |
| Rehabbed Old Building in a Town Near Dawson Falls. (We have seen many old buildings rehabbed with painting them all black.) Sunday. 7. Church in New Plymouth. Our first time here of 4 Sundays during our house sit. I begin meeting people and writing names as my way to practice and remember. I got a few people’s relationships mixed up but cleared that up through the week. There’s an American couple from Wisconsin who come to visit their son’s family every year for the past 9 years. Kevin and Patty. There’s a bunch of people and I enjoy meeting and talking to learn something about each one. We enjoy singing, having communion and a lesson together. Later in the evening we come back and have another lesson and sing. We ate lunch out at a very nice cafe. Monday. 8. Drove almost an hour closer to Mt. Taranaki to take the Dawson Falls track. It's beautiful and impressive. There were some great views from high up and mostly wooded and well maintained paths. We ate lunch at a cafe on our way back to our house. |
 |
| Fragrant Jasmine on The Privacy Fence and Carpeting the Corner at Our Housesit Tuesday. 9. Beautiful garden pictures especially of the ‘honeysuckle’ borders for my friend Laura. Later she tells me that it’s not honeysuckle but jasmine. I’ll have to google it! It smells amazing and keeps the cow smell at bay too! We took a coastal walk after my early morning massage. |
 |
| White Cliff Walk Parking |
 |
| Our Church Friends Michelle and Chris at Their Home Near Three Sisters. They've been here 2 years and it was an old gas station derelict building! |
 |
| Me and Michelle at the Black Sand Beach Just North of Three Sisters. Here is where she and Chris come to swim before breakfast! |
 |
| The Three Sisters Rocks |
Wednesday. 10. An early call with grandson Owen and granddaughter Esther with their dad Eric. An online Bible class (Hebrews 12 today) with our church friends in Tunbridge Wells. Evening Bible class, also Hebrews 12 (lol) in New Plymouth. An interesting cloud on the peak of Mt.Taranaki.
Thursday. 11. We left the house after our morning routine about 7:30 am. Going to get the oil changed in our subscription car. The maintenance is covered by Turners, but done at a local garage. While we waited for the car we walked into the downtown of New Plymouth to a sourdough bakery called Billow. We bought two loaves and stayed to share a coffee and cardamom bun. Our second loaf we are taking with us to our noon lunch date at Michelle and Chris’ house an hour north. We had our car back by 9am and took off north to get a hike in on our way to lunch. We stopped at the Cliff walk and walked almost straight up with a couple of downs to a spectacular view of the Tasman Sea and the cliff sea coast. We returned to our car the same way and got to lunch a little ahead of noon. We visited on their beautiful deck and in the kitchen. We learned about their mortgage free life and this fixer upper they’ve improved for two years. It’s really beautiful with amazing character. One of their friends and a church member Leisha is on the property in a small house with her two teens. They are having a nice time living as neighbors and friends. The garden is a shared space and designed by Michelle. They also have chickens and shared a dozen eggs with us. Sharing is a theme of Chris and Michelle’s life as they are full time into evangelism and teaching and growing people with Bible knowledge and encouragement for righteousness. We enjoyed our lunch with fresh veggies from the garden and grilled sausages and gluten free cake baked by Leisha. The sourdough fit the feast well. In the late afternoon at low tide, we drove a short way to a black sand beach where Chris and Michelle have been going every morning this year to get into the ocean and rev up their energy. It sounds like fun and they live right here. Since it is summer the water is nice once you get into it. At least Michelle said that even though I have not gotten more than my feet in! The shore line cliffs, cave and arches are dramatic and beautiful. We drove quickly back to Three Sisters and Elephant Rock and walked out to the rocks. Again it was dramatic and amazing! We could see Mt. Taranaki from here! Wow! We returned to the house and stayed for some more visiting and a drink. Our hour drive back got us in by 7pm and late for our dinner. Darrell watered the tomatoes and we had left over soup and some sourdough bread.
Friday. 12. Laundry day and hanging sheets and towels out on the line. Long, hour+15 min, Whatsapp call with my friend Laura in Tennessee. Decision to stay at the house all day. Tomorrow we will go get groceries. We continued our February planning and finding tickets online to visit ‘Hobbiton’.
Nomad Notes. I enjoyed meeting with the church in New Plymouth. We went to all three of their services which are similar to how we attend in the states. I began with introducing myself and found that the people there are very interested in meeting people and working together to encourage each other. We were invited to lunch at two different houses and we accepted! We had other invitations for other get togethers as well as suggestions for what to do in this area. Some shared their stories of conversion or travel to the states including who they knew there, whether friends or family.
Comments
Post a Comment