Jossy was round his Dad's all weekend which gave me the weekend off to do whatever I fancied. I therefore decided it would nice to go and visit Melva, tieing it in with a walk en route. Many people have recommended the Paekakariki Escarpment Track to me which is a relatively new track on the hillside linking Pukerua Bay and Paekakariki railway stations, so I thought I would do that. When leaving however it was pouring with rain although I just went for it to make the most of the day and by the time I arrived in Pukerua Bay the sun was out. The walk started from the station and basically ran parallel to the road and railway line, all be it on the edge of the hill. Some people call the track the stairway to heaven and you could see why as there was some 1500 steps throughout the track as well as 2 swing bridges which I always enjoy.
When arriving in Paekakariki I stopped for a drink as it was so hot, before continuing along the coastline into the Queen Elizabeth Park. From here I followed an inland track through the sand dunes parallel to the coastline which like the Escarpment Track presented great coastal views. I eventually emerged in Raumati which from there I followed the expressway into Paraparaumu to see Melva. It was nice to catch up although I stayed a lot longer than expected! After leaving I headed straight back down into Wellington where I had a couple of beers before deciding to just head back to York Bay as I didn't want to stay out too late.
The following day I had several options of things to do with many walks now on my to do list. I eventually decided I would go and watch the rugby and go for a walk in the afternoon. As New Zealand were playing Argentina away it was a late morning kick off and the pub were doing bacon sandwiches so I had to go, as well as the draw in the Australia South Africa game meaning New Zealand knew they were champions before kick off. They even beat Argentina so it was a great atmosphere. Afterwards I headed out into the Percy Scenic Reserve where I headed to this waterfall, the tallest one in the Wellington region. I then continued heading up through the woods to these rocks called the sugarloaf which gave a view over Lower Hutt and Wellington Harbour. When heading back down I went via Galbraiths Gully which followed a stream right back into Petone.
Jossy returned home on Monday morning as it was school holidays and his Dad had to go to work. This meant I had to keep him amused all day, although I did spend much of the morning doing the hoovering and cleaning out the car which was covered in foliage from where they had done dump trips of the trees I cut down over the weekend. After lunch as it was such a nice day we took Joss out on his bike, driving into Eastbourne where we walked a couple of hours along the promenade and back. Using the bike uses his leg muscles when the pedals turn and I pushed him most of the way, but in the long term he could potentially uses his arms to pedal, although he struggles with that right now.
The next day was another full on day, and was another scorcher. We therefore took Jossy outside on the deck in the back garden where I did a bit of gardening while he sat outside with me. After I finished what I was doing we read one of his books the school gave him over the holidays, and even had lunch outside inbetween. He even tried to teach me the words to the haka they do at school. When we went back inside we played a few board games which I obviously lost. Liza was very impressed with me when she came home that I managed to keep him entertained for so long without his Ipad which is essentially his only form of entertainment he can use without too much help.
On Wednesday we only had Joss until about 3 before he went to stay round his Dad's for a couple of nights. It was a pretty chilled out day although we did have to write a letter to the tooth fairy because he's decided he wants to buy his old tooth back and no longer wants to get new ones so that was fun. After his Dad picked him up I decided to go out for a walk in the afternoon, heading out into the East Harbour Regional Park to Butterfly Creek. The path to here was accessed from Eastbourne and headed up presenting great views of the harbour before dropping down the other side into the Butterfly Creek Valley. It was a pretty forest walk following the stream to this picnic area next to the stream, before I headed back a different way up and over the hill back into Eastbourne. I even managed to witness a pretty special sunset which I watched on the beach before heading back to York Bay.
The next day was a free day to myself, although it was a pretty miserable morning. I wanted to go out and do something though so I decided to head out to Pencarrow Lighthouse and the Parangarahu Lakes which were south of Eastbourne. To get to the lighthouse I simply just had to follow this gravel track along the coastline, and by afternoon the weather was much nicer which made it a pleasant walk. There were even lots of lambs and goats along the way. When reaching the lighthouse which lies at the gateway to Wellington Harbour on the Cook Strait, I headed out to Bluff Point where I got some great coastal views. I couldn't see south island though. I then headed inland to the Parangarahu Lakes, traversing round Lake Kohangapiripiri before heading up this viewpoint over Lake Kohangatera which gave great views of both lakes. I eventually completed a big loop back to the lighthouses and followed the coast back into Eastbourne.
On Friday Liza made sure she didn't have much work to do so she could spend the day with Jossy, heading into Wellington for lunchtime. When arriving to walked along the harbour to these food trucks which Jossy likes for lunch, ordering from 3 different food trucks to keep him happy! After looking round a few of the shops we went back to the car where we drove round Wellington for a bit looking at houses as they want to move somewhere more practical in the near future. It was nice to see some suburbs I haven't really seen yet including Seatoun and Island Bay. Come dinner time we headed to the Wellington Night Market which had lots of different cuisines and live music on offer, before heading back home. Max wasn't impressed we were out so long but it was a good day.
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