Dutch Windmill

Shortly after getting my car, I decided to break it in with a weekend road trip to Wellington. Things had been crazy busy schedule-wise with Phantom running for 4 weeks and I was needing a couple of days to just relax and recharge. I decided that I would do better at actually relaxing if I took a couple days and went somewhere. So I got a long weekend off work, and the day after the last phantom show, headed South. Driving North takes a bit of mental preparation because you have to tackle first the mountain and then the gorge. The recommended speed limit for most of it is 15-35 kph, not very fast :) Driving South however is quite the opposite. It is most flat, ad surprisingly straight, as New Zealand roads go. You get to drive through lots of nice farmland and cozy little towns.

The time spent in Wellington was lovely. I even got lucky and the rain held off until I left. Windy is known as the windy city (on bad days it is apparently far worse than Taranaki) but I was lucky in that respect as well). I spent two days exploring bookstores, art galleries, and coffee shops :)
On the drive home, when cruising through one of the cute little towns along the way, I saw a sign for a Dutch windmill. Since it was time for a break from the car anyway I thought I'd check it out. In addition to the Windmill, there were signs and photos in "downtown" which was really just Main Street, showing just how little it has changed in the last 100 years. It was not anywhere that I could see myself wanting to live, but it was a cute place to stop for a coffee and stretch of the legs.

Still in use today for making flour

View of downtown/Main St from the top of the Windmill

The last stop I made for a break from the car (it's about a 4-4 1/2 hour drive) was at Duddings Lake, just because the name made me laugh. Nothing terribly exciting, but it would be a nice place to camp :)