The Newest of the Plymouths

Mitch: The bus ride to New Plymouth was long.  We found out later that there's a more direct route to take, but we decided to save money and go on the backpacker-friendly bus, which stops at 5 or 6 different towns along the way.  The 3-hour trip becomes a 6-hour excursion.  This involved being sat beside a late-teens girl and her (crying) infant child, and someone who really wanted to listen to music but felt that headphones weren't necessary.  Each stop was in a rather small town which didn't appear all that different to Whangerai.  I started fearing our arrival in New Plymouth; Was it going to be just another small, quiet town?

The ride wasn't all that bad.  We got some time to just relax, which was a nice change of pace from the previous week.  The scenery was exceptional, and one thing that I still can't get over is the appearance of the never-ending hills: Every single hill is horizontally rippled, like they were built out of 3-foot high Lego blocks.  Imagine an Egyptian stepped pyramid, but covered in grass (see picture below).  Apparently this is the result of a few hundred years of sheep grazing.  The sheep walk across the hills, creating a tiny plateau.  Over time they create numerous tiny plateaus, giving the hills a rippled appearance.  I still don't buy it.  The New Zealanders have a secret they aren't telling us.  EVERY hill has this rippled appearance, no matter where you go, and the ripples go from base to tip.  It's wild.  You're probably thinking I must be excessively bored if this is what occupies my mind, but it's very abnormal.

I've found a picture of said hills:

We got dropped off in New Plymouth at the bus stop, which is between the Centre City Shopping Centre (terrible name, if you ask me) and the ocean.  Our hotel is on the opposite side of the mall, so we walk down the street to circle around.  As we turn around the West end of the mall we are greeted by a small, immaculate park, filled with people enjoying the weather.  Adjacent to the park is a large, modern glass-and-metal building with huge letters reading "PUKE ARIKI".  It turns out this is a free museum, which is joined via pedway to the New Plymouth library.  The museum has a fancy second-story restaurant looking out over the coast.  Behind it is a street-side restaurant with a busy patio, complete with fireplace and sun shade umbrellas.  We walk two doors down to our hotel.  It's located on a street with double-wide sidewalks accompanied by several bars, cafes, and shops.  All the shops are open.  The cafes are occupied by people.  There was no dirt in the corners.

I was immediately relieved.

We checked in and found ourselves in a rather fancy two-room apartment, accompanied by stainless-steel appliances and a wall-mounted flat screen TV.  Comfortable, indeed.   An hour or so later we we met Sophie and Victoria, two of Jenna's soon-to-be coworkers, and headed out for a drink at the aforementioned street-side restaurant.  The bar was filled with young professional-looking people.  Sophie knew one of the bartenders, and a local heading back from the coastal walkway said hi to Vic.  We had the typical "what's different between here and Canada?" conversation, and chatted about the to-do's in New Plymouth until it was dark and our new friends remembered they had to work in the morning.

That was 10 days ago.  Before arriving I was worried we wouldn't make friends for a while, and it might be a bit lonely at the start.  I was wrong.  I think I'm going to like this place.