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A beach walk and casual lunch an hour out of Wellington

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Whilst in Wellington, my NZ friend Nicola took me for a drive up to Peka Peke and Waikanae Beach to show me different parts of outer Wellington. I was very grateful for this as I didn’t have a car and would not have had the opportunity to see these areas without this driving experience.

Peka Peka is a small seaside town on the coast of New Zealand’s North Island. I was told it is famous because a young emperor penguin, nicknamed Happy Feet (maybe the inspiration for the movie or because of the movie more probably) appeared on the beach in 2011 and this is special as emperor penguins are usually only found in the Antarctica…a little way away from NZ.  I am still unsure why this is famous but anyway it is…

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After our walk on the beach (a really nice beach but not the lovely golden sand I am used to in Australia – little bit brown and dirty but still lovely as people were out and about walking their dogs and generally just enjoying the day) we stopped off at a small town called Waikanae also along the coast.

There we had lunch at  Long Beach Cafe…

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This cafe grows its own produce for the food and also for most of the beverages which come from the veggie patches at the rear of the cafe.

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For lunch both Nic and I ordered the avocado on sourdough bread, cherry tomato salsa, goats cheese and sunflower seeds.  I asked for the goats cheese to be omitted which the waitress was very happy to do.  What an incredibly healthy and delicious meal along with a lovely glass of NZ Antipodes sparkling mineral water.

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This was a lovely part of the north island of New Zealand; and I really need to return and see more!!