K is for the Kapiti Coast

Today, we head back to the North of Island of New Zealand. Not to a town, specifically, but to the Kapiti Coast just north of Wellington, the nation’s capital. Kapiti Island lies just offshore.

The area provides small thumbnail sketches of different characteristics of New Zealand. Tall, straight rocks stand as silent sentinels in the water off Paekakariki. Nearby there was a beach-side restaurant where we would stop to enjoy a meal and give the children a break as we drove home from Wellington. It was a popular spot then, so probably still exists. Then there’s the rural/beachy ambience of Otaki and Waikanae. Paraparaumu is a busy seaside town which draws weekend visitors from Wellington and Palmerston North. Added to all of that are the stretches of road where the waves crash on one side, and on the other, the railway line holds the bush at bay.