Day 21: Catching up with Sally-Ann and Ian

Today was pretty much a driving day as we are now en route to South Island.  We drove south from Foxton Beach having spent a very pleasant overnight on the commercial site.  There was one other motorhome on site when we woke and I was chatting to the driver who said they were here for the funeral of an elderly relative and that there were forty family members on site, in the cabins, and more than that on the family farm some miles hence.  It was a celebration of their grandmother's life so they were all looking forward to having the very extended family all together.

We stopped off for a cuppa en route and then it was straight to Lower Hutt in Wellington and the home of Sally-Ann and Ian and much catching up of over twenty years, and petting of Percy and Tiger their two affectionate rescue dogs.

After a bucket of tea, we drove in Sally-Ann's car to Kaitoke Reserve to walk the dogs and to visit the movie location of Rivendell.  The exit from the carpark was via a rope bridge which neither dog had experienced before and it took much coaxing for them both to cross.

The forest was very pretty with more magnificent trees, some of which had possum proofing to prevent this animal (protected in Australia, vermin here) destroying the trees and birds/birds' eggs. We could see scratch marks where the possum had tried to get a grip on the tin wrap around the tree.  This was a lovely location for the elvin home, much of which was CGI'd in the films.  Remaining is the gate, a movie prop left for tourists.

In the evening we ate out at the Saddleback Restaurant, attached to a stables/riding school high in the hills above Wellington.  En route we drove down to Markara Beach where we spotted a young couple, just married, having their photos taken.  It was a pity the sky was overcast and a sunset was unlikely but it would still have made for a dramatic backdrop.

Back in Belmont Hills, Sally-Ann gave us lots of good ideas for places to visit in South Island.