November 17, Turangi to Wellington

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The next morning after the incredibly productive $300 trout walk, and having gained confidence that if there were any retarded fish to be found along our route that I would catch them, we headed south for Wellington. Wellington is the staging point for the ferry to the South Island.

The trip was long (6 hours) and fairly boring, though there were a couple of notable sights along the way. We passed through Taihape, which claims to be the Gumboot Capital of the world (self appointed). They have a giant mascot of a gumboot at the edge of the town, and "gumboot this" and "gumboot" that all over town. We had lunch at the world-famous Gumboot Manor.

How did Taihape get the much coveted title of Gumboot Capital of the World? Inquiring minds want to know so we asked. It’s because they have an annual gumboot throwing competition. I asked the waitress at the Gumboot Manor if there were all kinds of highly modified, high performance gumboots that entered the competition. “No, just regular boots.” She answered. “Can they put a brick in them?” I asked. “No. Just plain boots.” As it turns out, New Zealand has quite a few (Blank) Capital of the Worlds.

Next we passed through Mangaweka (I’m not making these names up!). I gave it the honorary title of “DC-3s Painted Like Chocolate Chip Cookies" Capital of the World.

Other than there being several straight stretches of highway between Turangi and Wellington, nothing else interesting happened.