Blogs from Whanganui National Park, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 2

High Country Weather Alone we are born, And die alone. Yet see the red-gold cirrus, Over snow-mountain shine. Upon the upland, Ride easy stranger. Surrender to the sky, Your heart of anger. - James K. Baxter Jerusalem Pilgrimage When planning this journey, I knew one of the places I wanted to visit was the Whanganui River and in particular the tiny settlement of Jerusalem where the poet James K Baxter established a community in the 1960s. When he died in 1972 he was buried there. Baxter was a hugely controversial figure, besides being probably our best poet. I was intrigued to see the place where he’d spent much of the last decade of his life First the Church I arrived in Jerusalem mid-afternoon during a break in the weather. At some point in his life Baxter ... read more

The flight from Sydney to Wellington is around three hours long but it seemed longer as I made the mistake of watching the in flight movie 'The Day the World Stood Still'. When we arrived our hire car was ready and waiting for us so there was no lugging around awkward bags, negotiating of taxi fairs or deciphering of bus time tables to be done. We drove to the Tapa Museum which was free and had several exhibits on. We visited the history of New Zealand which started by describing how the first Mauri settelers came here from Asia via south sea islands thousands of years ago the going on to the first Europeans arrival through political struggles for racial equality in the Sixtys and seventies through to present day culture. It used allot of personal ... read more

Well it's been a bit of a slower couple of months lately so there hasn't been too much to write about besides exams, and noone wants to hear about that; though I think i've finally got enough to fill a blog with now. Also why did England have to lose at rugby? Even the shopkeeper at my local store greeted me by asking if I could remind him the score of the game, and then of course didn't hear and wanted me to repeat it. And then we get beaten again this weekend! It's a sad time to be a 'pom'... So I've finally done some rock climbing here, something I've been wanting to do for a while. I know Jenny and Ben have already done quite a bit of this, so now finally see what ... read more

Hello, Driving by car from Raetihi to Pipiriki coffee bar takes you half an hour, 16 km sealed road and then 11 km winding gravel road, we arrived at the river Whanganui. An excursion to " the Bridge to Nowhere " ( info www.amazingnz.com ) happened with a jet boat upstream to the Mangapurua landing, hiking up and down the mountains for 40 min. you reach The Bridge to Nowhere, a concrete construction in the middle of nowhere, that lost her function today. Joe and Mandy provided all the details concerning the historical facts. We stayed for the night in the Bridge to Nowhere Lodge. Hallo, Met de wagen rijden van Raetihi tot de coffee bar in Pipiriki duurt een goed halfuur, 16 km asfalt en dan 11 km grave. Je arriveert aan de Whanganui rivier, ... read more