Blogs from New Zealand, Oceania - page 8

We took the bus into Wellington Central early, watching Wellingtonians ‘go to work’. As it was well before opening time for the Te Papa Museum, we scurried about visiting areas we had not seen before. The wind was picking up! Even though we tried to do the museum justice by spending 3 hours learning, thoroughly enjoying and being ‘moved’ by the fascinating displays and information we knew we still had only scratched the surface. Te Papa is full of the treasures and unique stories of Aotearoa New Zealand from Maori and Pacific culture, to art and the natural environment. Level 3, Blood Earth Fire, was my favourite. We began at level 6 and worked our way to level 3, with 2 and 1 still to go, however, we were out-on-our-feet. When Jane said she was tired, ... read more

An absolutely beautiful, pleasant, discovering day. The weather was terrific. We began by wandering the Waikanae Beach, making comments that the driftwood, shells and volcanic stones would be an artisans mecca. The weathering by sea and sand of the pieces of driftwood and stones into all sorts of shapes and smoothness had us wanting to take many pieces home but knew that was not possible. We were present when the local ferry ‘berthed’ (see photos). Birdlife was prolific. Kapiti Island is 5km across the Rauoterangi Channel and is a popular destination for many. Waikanae, meaning ‘waters of the grey mullet’ is also home to numerous walking, running, cycling and horse trails. The Tararua Ranges which we white knuckled experienced yesterday look over Waikanae and the Kapiti Coast. Tripping further south we came across, Paraparaumu. Its beach, ... read more

Pulling the curtains aside and seeing absolutely clear skies, it was, “Oh beauty”, however, upon setting out after breakfast, a fog occurred from out of nowhere, reducing visibility to 50m or less. We ‘drove-out-of-it’ after about 30kms as we headed to our destination of Castlepoint on the eastern coast of the North Island. It is enough to say that wherever you travel in NZ the countryside is lush and scenic. Literally minutes after turning-off at Masterton for the coast the saturated and still flooded fields both sides of the road were in evidence. Things were to become worse. The streams had become rivers and the rivers had become raging torrents during the recent cyclone and infrastructure damage was clearly visible. Tall cornfield crops still had water to half of their height, farmhouses with mudlines a third ... read more

It snowed on the mountain. However, we were camped below the snowline and well protected. Apart from a few odd patches we experienced overcast conditions with continual drizzle throughout the day. It is still raining whilst we camp. Our journey today took us from Whakapapa Village to the Manawatu Gorge outside of Woodville. We drove off the beaten track for most of the day taking roads that clung to the sides of the ranges with drop-offs of hundreds of metres into the fast flowing rivers below. Apart from a few farmers we saw only a handful of vehicles. We loved the route we took, as it gave us terrific scenery, despite the drizzle, and as we love rivers, cliffs, lush vegetation, sheep, cattle horses, old farm sheds, stockyards and very few vehicles, we were in our ... read more

As intimated in the previous post we did decide to stay on this terrific site. Our decision was reinforced by the truly magnificent scene we had woken to … not by the scene of late last evening when the storm clouds had begun to gather. The sky was clear, the sun was bright, the lake was in various hues of blue and the swans and ducks were in abundance. Why leave such beauty? Make the cuppa … healthy breakfast sitting in our chairs beside the lake … small birds at our feet … a very gentle breeze … yes, full of gratitude for being able to enjoy … A 2km walk into the village to explore and note the beauty of the place as well as the customary café visit. The village is adorned on either ... read more