Petone's Wharf

We took 10days out to the Capital (New Zealand) during the bi-annual arts festival. It was incredible and I hope to write some posts about the theatre, dance and music that we engaged in during our holiday later in another blog. I'm not really a city photographer and so again most of the photos I experimented with were situated around the sea. But then again, I was amazed that so much of Wellington hugs the ocean and takes full advantage of all it has to offer.

Petone – meaning “edge of the sand” – was originally a Pa site of the Ngati Awa tribe. It is 10min drive from Wellington. The first European settlers arrived at the southern tip of New Zealand’s North Island and landed in Petone. It was thought that this would become a large settlement, however it was prone to flooding and earthquakes. Thus it’s settlers moved across the harbour and began the settlement of Wellington – now New Zealand’s Capital City.

It has recently come back in the spotlight for it’s café culture and old interesting buildings. I have not been able to find too much information about the actual wharf.

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Ninety Mile Beach - The Top Of New Zealand

I searched Google for information about Ninety Mile Beach but found little that presented this stunning location to my satisfaction. We have travelled to this West Coast Wonder for many a holiday. The raging surf on the west coast is thunderous. It crashes and rumbles, tosses and churns the entire stretch of a beach that disappears miles past the vanishing mists. It is in fact, only 60miles long, and one theory is that missionaries measured this with horses that they estimated could walk for 30miles a day. After 30 days they concluded the trek from the southern point at Ahipara to the northern tip of New Zealand at Cape Reigna was 90miles. They did not however consider the slowing effect of horses walking on sand. This beach, as with many in New Zealand, is a registered road. The road rules for this beach are the same as for a highway. It is great fun to roar along the beach in any car – however many a tragedy has occurred here including car accidents and cars being stuck in the sand when the tide changes. If you want a wild west coast extravaganza - Te Oneroa a Tohe - the long beach of Tohe (Ninety Mile Beach) will give you this and more. Ahipara (more costly) and Waipapakauri (cheaper rougher options) are two areas to chill out and soak up the roar of this ocean.

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