New Plymouth

So Friday evening I booked a bus ticket to head down to New Plymouth for the weekend! It was a bit of a whirlwind visit but I'm so glad I went, as despite the fact I had a test on Wednesday and a 3,000 word essay due Thursday the weekend away was the perfect get-away!

New Plymouth was beautiful, so once I got of the bus (it was a 4hour journey) I took a quick stroll along the eastern section of the Coastal Walkway to find a hostel - you couldn't book a hostel room online with less than 48hours notice so I just had to wing it and hope there would be room!

I visited St Mary's Church which is the oldest stone church in New Zealand! Visiting the 'old' building in New Zealand always reminds me just how young the country actually is!

There were also a couple of lovely little walks through woodlands, the one which ran alongside the stream for a couple of miles was one of my favourites

Although this was a little bit of a weird sign to stumble across on my walk!

I made sure to fit in the Coastal Walkway while in New Plymouth as it's a beautiful path that's been built to run right alongside the coast for 13ishkm (8miles) 

There's the Wind Wand, which is a pretty famous landmark for New Plymouth on the Coastal Walkway

The coastline was beautiful, with a great mix of expansive sandy beaches, and rough vibrant yellow cliffs. It was also the perfect time to take a walk as I set off as the sun was getting low in the sky, so by the time I was returning to town the sun was setting and I got amazing views

This was one of my favourite beaches - can you see how the clouds are reflected in the wet sand!!

Towards the end of the walk my shoes were hurting so I did the only possible thing I could, and took my shoes off to go paddling in the water!

I found a huge driftwood tree that served as the perfect bench and sat down to read while the sun set - incredibly tranquil and utterly perfect

This is looking back at New Plymouth, you can just see the two nature reserved islands out to see

The sunsets in New Plymouth were some of the best I've seen as it just went on for ages!

Leaving you with one of my favourite pictures from New Plymouth!