Blog #9 Enroute to Hawke's Bay

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Blog #9 Enroute to Hawke's Bay
With some regret we turned our faces south from the Coromandel. As we drove along we passed some orchards and fruit and veg stands. Stopping at one to fill our “chilly-bin” (cooler), we chatted with the owner/operator and I had to politely drag Jim away when it was mentioned that the orchard and business were for sale! Then we stopped in an interesting town called Waihi. It has an open pit mine, ‘the Martha Mine’, still being worked, at one end of the main street. The historical signs described how in the 1920’s many Cornish and Welsh emigrated to work as skilled labor in the mine, and while most of them were too poor to buy shoes for their kids, most families had a piano in their parlour, and choirs and brass bands abounded. Hot water pumped from the mine was used to fill the town swimming pool, and the barefoot kids would warm their feet in the effluent as it poured down the gutters. As the miners developed emphysema and were unable to work, the beneficent company gave them ‘retirement homes’ (housing in a shanty town) on a nearby beach. The tourist signs didn’t mention the current situation which is that the tailings pond is about 3 miles away from the town, continues to grow, and how to deal with the toxic sludge is still an unsolved problem.

There is never a shortage of beaches in New Zealand. Although we were trying to make time, we took a detour to beautiul Papamo Beach to eat our picnic lunch. It was entertaining to watch the recreational fisherman nose their boats up onto the sand, then drag them at the end of 20 foot tow ropes to firm enough sand to trailer them, racing the tide the whole time. Jim took some beautiful pictures of sea and clouds there.

Finally, we proceeded to Rotorua where we attended the obligatory hangi and heard a cultural concert. The stick games were very impressive! The next day we went to the public gardens to see amazing boiling mud and steam holes, and to the Government Gardens where we saw beautiful rose gardens. We also saw the retired folks playing croquet (very serious croquet - they wore uniforms.) When Rachel “puts me in a home” as she always says she will, I hope she will pick one with a conveniently close croquet course!

Leaving Rotorua the next day, we drove through a beautiful mountain pass that was green with pines and golden with gorse. Gorse was imported by Scottish settlers to make hedgerows that could be used to fence sheep. However, the cold winds in Scotland limit gorse’s growth to one blooming a year, but here in New Zealand it blooms twice yearly and has become another detested ‘introduced species’. However, it seems that in the right spots, it does provide “nursery protection” for young native trees when they are seedlings, and then when they out grow the gorse it dies back for want of light. Reaching Napier, Jim and Carole took the self guided tour to see the art deco buildings. Emily napped. Then, we set off for the next stop on our trip – Tourere Station.

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Comments

[sharon taeger]

What a beautiful trip. Here it is -25 this morn. and snow tomorrow. On Sun. will be a joint Angli-Luth. evening service. Lots of work for Rev. M. He has 4 readers from TLC. Went to joint choir practice:1 Luth and 4 Ang. Looking forward to next blog. ST