s e v e n i s a j o u r n e y

More driving. This time to the west of Silverstream, over Hayward’s Hill through Judgeford to Porirua. I am still wrapping my head around the scale of this place. Looking at it on the map, this stretch of road linking the upper Hutt Valley to the west coast looks like it should take more than the ten minutes or so it actually did. It helped, I suppose, that the road is a good wide one, and not torturously twisty. Porirua has two bays, the easternmost of which, Pauatahanui (note to self: shell out for that place-names dictionary), flattens out into tidal marsh and wetlands, bordered on the north by farmland hills which are not too high, but very steep and pointy, and on the south by hills which are studded with the trendy housing developments of Whitby. Sheep and suburbia watching each other warily across the little inlet. Pretty country, and the seaside villages look like they’d be nice to stroll through. Comparable commuting distance to Whiteman’s Valley, I think.

From there, we drove down to Porirua, where they have something approaching a US style mall — one of the outdoors ones, though. Like Shoppers World, only about a third the size. You can tell you’re not in the US mainly because the parking lots are so small. It was easier to find parking at the biggest suburban mall in the greater Wellington area on Queen’s Birthday Weekend than it was to find parking at the grocery store back in Woburn. We picked up a new power cord for my PC, and (now that I’ve gotten over the sticker shock a bit) I got myself the CD/clock/radio I’d been eyeing.

Then we drove further south along Highway 1 until we came to Johnsonville, where we swung west out to the Ohariu Valley, which seems to be largely full of horse schools and riding stables. The one cafe in the valley has paddocks you can turn your horses into when you pause your ride for your tea and pastries.

Pics. Pauatahanui. The inlet is off to the right of frame. I somehow managed not to get a photo of the bay or marsh or anything. Oops. Second photo is of one of the shopping centers in Porirua, an older, smaller one, with more character than the one I described above. It occured to me that I’m presenting a lot of photos of pretty scenery, and not many of the places where the people go. The last one is of the wee little parish church up Ohariu Valley, services held the fourth Sunday of the month.