Have You Ever Seen the Rain?

Monday 16 December

After the peace and beauty of the Desert Road and the holiday vibes of Foxton Beach… what a change! It started raining as we left Foxton and pretty much never stopped!

Heading into Wellington along the beautiful Kapiti Coast we had roughly zero view with low cloud and sheets of rain!

We parked up at the functional but dull NZMCA site in Plimmerton (another cheap as chips $10 for the night) then drove to the Light House Cinema in Petone (across town) to meet Louis’ old school friends Simon & Mark, along with Simon’s wife Rebecca. Lots to catch up on over coffee, as Simon is not a FB person, so had no idea about our impending odyssey! The Light House Cinema is the brainchild of Simon and his dad Dick Werry - the Werrys & the Bernstones have been friends since the late 70s. Since they established this cinema about 20 years ago it has become a Wellington institution, spawning 2 more picture houses in Cuba Street and Pauatahanui.

In search of a good place for lunch after the catch up, we did a quick check on Tripadvisor and selected Seashore Cabaret which turned out to be brilliant fun. Set upstairs overlooking the sea (on a good day) the place is full or quirky fairground attractions and funky chairs, tables & decor. The mechanical fortune teller at the top of the stairs had a big "Out of Order" sign stuck on the glass, under which someone had scrawled "Well, no one saw that coming" - brilliant!

The menu looked pretty standard but the plates of food going to tables around us looked fabulous - we went for Creamy Mushrooms (me) and Mince on Toast (Louis) and they did not disappoint. Freshly squeezed OJ for the same price as a bottle elsewhere was another treat.

All that eating and talking proved exhausting so we battled the rain again and headed back to Plummerton for a snooze back at Banjo. The flooding was horrendous, but we were snug & warm back in the caravan.

Chris & Fiona popped down to inspect Banjo then we followed them up the hill to spend the evening catching up with them. Chris used to be in a band with Louis back in the 80s, and they revived their musical partnership over the past decade creating "Armchair Insomniacs" with Jonny Webster & JP. Fi and I are their official groupies!

As the evening progressed the view from their window over the Porirua Harbour appeared and disappeared several times as the cloud and rain rolled in again -

by the time we left, a storm was raging and back in the van we were literally rocked to sleep… madness!