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Published: February 21st 2013
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Having crossed the Cook Strait, we arrived in Wellington, checked into a hostel, and went out in the evening to see the sights of the city. We didn't get very far since we were a bit distracted by a small craft beer cellar with hundreds of bottles of beer and at least a dozen of New Zealand's finest microbrewery beers on tap. When we found out that they did cheese platters as well, we nearly bedded down for the night, but thought better of it and after a substantial snack, headed to the cinema instead.
The following day, we went to the National Museum, Te Papa, for an education in geology and some simulated earthquake fun, and then picked up a hire car, which we'll have for the rest of our trip on North Island. On our way out of Wellington we paid a visit to the 'Weta Cave', a studio where they make models and props for film sets, including lots of bits and pieces for Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit. Chris was naturally in his element at this point, gazing longingly at some Gondorian armour, whilst Emma sat on a small bench in a corner admiring
some hobbit feet.
Driving out of Wellington, we stopped a night on the outskirts before heading to the small town of Masterton, famous for being the 'Home of the Golden Shears', an annual international sheep shearing competition held in the town every Autumn. Although always resistant to people touching his fleece and even being dipped, Bob really enjoyed our trip to the sheep shearing museum and had to be dragged away from the DVD showing last years competition (we think a Scottish guy won).
Overlooking the flat and fertile land around Masterton are the imposing Tararua Range where there are a few rather large hills. We thought we'd have a go at climbing a couple of these and so backpacks at the ready, we set off on the three-day 'Holdworth-Jumbo Circuit'. Starting in the forests below where it was above thirty degrees in the shade, we were soon in the alpine regions of the hills, where it became a bit cold and blowy. Fortunately, we managed to reach the first hut without being blown off a windy ridge and subsequently had a nice afternoon and evening listening to the wind howling outside and sitting around the woodburner with
Kiwi guy who was doing the circuit in the other direction and had had an interesting time trying to cross summits in galeforce wind. Fortunately the weather the next day was somewhat calmer and so we had a nice day walking to the top of a couple of the hills in the area, summiting Mount Holdsworth first, and then Mount Jumbo, before we descended down to Jumbo Hut where we spent another night above the bushline listening to howling wind and watching the sleet come down around the hut. From there, we descended back down to the plains the next day, where the temperatures were once again scorching. It's amazing what a difference 1200 metres makes!
Our next stop was Martinborough, still in the warm and sunny South of the North Island, the region is famous for it's wine. Having had so much fun on bikes in the Marlborough region, we thought we'd do the same again, and spent Valentines day wobbling around the vineyards on a tandem, which it turns out is a lot harder to ride than it looks. Before we'd even tasted any wine, we found ourselves heading headfirst towards a ditch in front of a
whole class of primary school children. Happy days! Fortunately the more vineyards we visited, the better we seemed to get on the tandem and so we did have a great day after all, followed up by Chris cooking a lovely mushroom risotto which we had on a picnic bench accompanied by some local pinot noir.
Leaving Martinborough, we headed West to the coastal town of Wanganui. Staying in a small cabin on the coast, we based ourselves here to arrange our next expedition, canoeing down the Wanganui River in the National Park further North. Food bought and Canadian Canoe hire arranged, we headed a few hours upriver to spot in the middle of nowhere, where we packed our things into barrels and headed off for a three day trip paddling down the river. With much of the region in drought, water levels were low which made the river feel more like a mill pond in places, but there were still a few rapids to keep things interesting and necessitate a bit of baling out. Amazingly we didn't capsize at any point, which is just as well because had we done so, we'd probably have lost our tent, since it
didn't fit into any of the barrels. Not so lucky, were an Irish couple who were doing the same trip as us and managed to capsize with some regularity losing various belongings in the process.
The land around the Wanganui is a bit of a jungle with very little in the way of road access for tens of kilometres on end. When soldiers returned from the First World War, the New Zealand government offered them and their families acres of land around the river with the promise that hundreds of kilometres of road would be built connecting towns on either side of the region. Whilst waiting for the road to be built, the newly settled veterans around Wanganui set about building a bridge spanning the river, a project that took them several years and would be necessary when the road was finally built. Unfortunately, it turned out that like many government promises the world over, the road wasn't built, and subsequently the farmers found themselves isolated in the middle of a jungle, with a huge concrete bridge that was wide enough for a car but only had small paths on either side of it. Meanwhile, the land that they
were trying to farm turned out to be harder to control than they had thought and crops failed year after year. By the early 1940's all of the farmers had given up in their efforts to cultivate the land and the area has since been abandoned leaving the eerie 'Bridge to Nowhere' remaining in the middle of uninhabited bush.
After three days on the river and two nights under canvas listening to the running water and birdsong, it was nice to finally arrive back in civilisation, in the small village of Pipiriki (population possibly in double figures). From there we got a lift back to our car and made a long trip north to the coast of the Bay of Plenty, from where our journey will continue.
Things that we have learned Gandalf is alive and well and hiding out in a cave near Wellington
Sheep-shearing is not just a serious business, it's also a spectator sport. Head to Masterton if you don't believe us
The person who when planning nuptials sang that Daisy 'would look sweet upon the seat of a bicycle made for two' had obviously never tried riding a tandem. Had they
done so, they would know that the teamwork and negotiation required could possibly break many a marriage. (For those that are wondering, the same applies to Canadian canoes)
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