Blogs from New Zealand, Oceania - page 11

UNBELIEVABLE! Jane and I are sitting outside NZ’s longest operating general store, “Gilchrists General Store”, in the town of Oturehua, consisting of the aforementioned store, the pub across the road, the local hall and 3 houses, when 5 blokes who have just stopped and poured out of a vehicle, give us a look, go into the store and after a while emerge and come to our table … the leader of the group, a strong, good looking guy says to me … “Are you Andrew, Andrew Belotti?” (Jane is wide eyed and shaking her head saying, “not again”, as this has occurred a few times before). Naturally I reply in the affirmative. He continues, “You used to coach me in football and athletics. I’m Jaimie. Jaimie Walsh.” (son of the former Australian hockey great, Terry) I ... read more

Cooked! Stuffed! Buggered! Rooted! Challenged, physically and mentally. We cannot remember a time when we were so exhausted. A difficult trail in undertaken during the rising heat of the day. There was no escape. Shade was non-existent unless one hugged the side of the cliff face which we did numerous times in our exhaustion. We coped with the first 20km from Cromwell to the “Coffee Float”, two small river craft selling coffee, icecream, burgers, muffins, cold drinks, etc, quite well. Literally metres from the Coffee Float the trail morphed into one out of a horror movie. The Cairnmuir Ladder began with steep climbing switchbacks with steep drop offs that seemed never ending. (Watch the 2min and 1min 20 sec videos) We walked most of them. It rose 130 vertical metres. There is a total of 580m ... read more

My favourite aero club (https://www.wanganuiaeroclub.co.nz/) held an open day on 22 January 2023 as part of Whanganui's Vintage Weekend. After three years of events being cancelled it was great to see a large and enthusiastic crowd at the Club. Being out in the sun is not something those us of with Sjogren's and Lupus usually do as we tend to be very sun sensitive. However, I was prepared to put up with the sun in order to see my favourite planes. The first one I drooled over was the Fox Moth. My great-grandmother had flown in a Moth with Captain Jim Hewitt at Mangawhai. There is a photo of her standing next to the plane and the cafe at the Mangawhai Museum is named after her because of this flight. The lovely owners saw how interested ... read more

I hate to admit how many times I have visited this zoo over many decades. It was always a Christmas holiday treat for my daughter. She loved it way back then and her children love it now. I have a love/hate relationship with zoos as I spent several years volunteering at a large zoo so have an appreciation of some of the problems zoos of all sizes face and have expectations of how animals should be housed. Visiting Pouakai Zoo, after not seeing it for many years, was going to be 'interesting' for me. Did I struggle with the size of some of the cages, having been used to the large modern enclosures at other zoos? Yes. But did the animals seem happy and in great condition and very well looked after? Yes. Absolutely. And the ... read more

This morning we left Richmond where we have spent a fabulous week with our dear friends Robin and Sandra. We have really enjoyed their company and their hospitality but … it is time to start heading home. To fit in some more sightseeing before leaving NZ, we drove west over the Southern Alps on State Highway No. 6. We stopped to stretch our legs at Hope Saddle Lookout and to photograph the Buller River at Gowan Bridge and Kilkenny Lookout. We finally glimpsed the Tasman Sea at Charleston before continuing south along the west coast with stops at Irimahuwhero Lookout and Coghlans Lookout, where we saw two pukeko chicks. Here I think we call them swamphens, which doesn’t sound quite so exotic? NOTE: I am reliably informed by a New Zealander (thanks Robin!) that these chicks ... read more